Prejudice against Muslims is dangerously high in Europe and can lead to a vicious circle of isolation and radicalisation of immigrant youths, the head of the European Union's racism observatory said today.
European countries have enough laws to foster integration, but they are not well implemented and real issues are often avoided, Beate Winkler, head of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, told European imams meeting in Vienna.
European Muslim prayer leaders at the session, organised by Austria during its presidency of the European Union, supported the goal of integrating their communities and Islam itself into European life, but said this needed time and creative thinking.
"The level of discrimination against Muslim communities in Europe remains dangerously high," Winkler told the meeting.
"Some people stereotype all Muslims as devotedly religious and sharing a fundamentalist view of Islam," she said, which could produce a vicious circle of discrimination and hostility towards Muslims from parts of the European majority.
"Muslims have a dangerous feeling of hopelessness and withdrawal from the wider community, which in turn leads to alienation, especially among young Muslims of immigrant descent," she added.
Winkler gave no statistical evidence but said her agency would soon publish two reports on Islamophobia in Europe.
The meeting brought together over 100 imams from around Europe to discuss ways to better integrate their communities into European life, a job that EU foreign affairs commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said they were well placed to do.
"This is an absolutely crucial moment in intercultural and interfaith relations in Europe," she told the meeting, noting "renewed attention in the so-called clash of civilisations."
"Europe is home to an estimated 20 million Muslims," she said, denying any clash was inevitable. "Islam is as much a part of modern day Europe as it has been part of its history."