Building on Ideas Developed at NYU Center for Dialogues Salzburg Conference on Muslim Youth and Women in the West: Source of Concern or Source of Hope? of last May.
European Union Informal High–Level Meeting Considered Need for New Guidelines for Inclusive Citizenship in Europe
An informal high–level meeting of European policy makers, experts and Muslim community leaders (see list of participants) was convened on February 22nd, 2008 at Castle Jable in Ljubljana, Slovenia to consider the possibilities of new guidelines for inclusive citizenship in Europe, aimed at ensuring that “new minorities” — particularly Muslims — can play their full part as equal citizens of the Union and of its member states. This initiative was organized, at the request of Dimitrij Rupel, Slovenia’s Foreign Minister, by the Slovenian Centre for European Perspective (CEP), by New York University Center for Dialogues: Islamic World—U.S.—The West, by the Salzburg Global Seminar, an independent non–profit organization based at Salzburg, Austria, and the by London–based Weidenfeld Institute for Strategic Dialogue.
The meeting considered the current shape and status of Muslim communities in Western Europe, and looked at attempts by European governments to review traditional concepts and practices of citizenship, as well as the relationship between European States and organized religions. It also considered appropriate government responses to clashes between family and individual rights, freedom of expression and respect for group identities and beliefs, and security and social integration policies. The participants also discussed steps to strengthen the integration of minorities in Europe, including: more effective means to share best practices and lessons from experience among European authorities at all levels; collection and harmonisation of data; and improved facilities for training imams in Europe.
The Jable meeting was an informal brainstorming, and had no mandate to take decisions on behalf of the European Union or any of its member states. The hope was expressed, however, that the discussion would continue under the French EU presidency in the second half of 2008.
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