Persons in Spanish occupied territories of Ceuta and Melilla in Morocco have declared themselves to be enemies of the Spanish state, asking for several demands, including mosques, schools, Islamic professors, and sovereignty of the population. More than 30,000 Muslims live in Ceuta, where they comprise almost half of the population in the Spanish enclave, similar…
The Dutch intelligence and information service AIVD frequently checks the destination of funding provided to Muslim organisations, it emerged in a parliamentary debate late Thursday. Interior Minister Guusje Ter Hors said the government wanted to ensure the Dutch government did not support any organisation involved in fundamentalist or terrorist activities. She was speaking during a…
Three members of Switzerland’s seven-strong cabinet have publicly condemned a campaign by rightwingers to ban the construction of minarets On Monday Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, who also holds the rotating Swiss presidency, told journalists in Geneva that such an initiative “could put Swiss interests and Swiss citizens in danger”. Her comments came a day after…
The European Commission on Monday said it was giving new funds to support cross-border projects aimed at improving the integration of immigrants in the 27-member European Union. Some four million euros (5.4 million dollars) would be made available for 12 initiatives that “encourage dialogue with civil society, develop integration models, seek out and evaluate good…
Germany’s Islamic organizations aren’t lacking in number. But coherence has long been a problem. Now four groups are banding together to form an umbrella organization. German politicians applaud the initiative, but warn that it’s only one of several on the way to better inter-cultural dialogue. When Interior Minister Wolfgang Sch_uble held an Islam conference in…
