Why the EU should be encouraging pluralist Muslim democracies

By JAN MARINUS WIERSMA MEP, Vice-President of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament

In partnership with my Dutch Green MEP colleague Joost Lagendijk I have written a book called “Travels among our Muslim neighbours” in which we explain why the EU should work with and encourage Muslim parties who are committed to pluralist democracies, even when we disagree with them on social issues such as the role of women.

In the book, we recount meetings with Islamist parties in countries which are near neighbours of the EU, such as Turkey, Morocco and Egypt. We define Islamist parties as those which use democratic processes to turn their states into ones based on sharia law. As a secular politician I try to promote universal values. I am not in favour of Islamist states, and I would cite the examples of Iran, which is run by Shia clerics, and Saudi Arabia where sharia law applies. But I would also argue there should be space for political parties inspired by religious belief, and the example I would give is that of Christian Democratic parties in western Europe. I want to highlight the case of the AK Party in Turkey led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which he calls a “post-Islamist party”, because it has given up all attempts to convert the state into an Islamic one. The AK Party developed out of a predecessor party, the Welfare Party, which had a stronger Islamic agenda and was banned by Turkey’s secular establishment. But the AKP leadership learned their lesson, and now is a role model for other religious political parties in the region.

But I would also urge authoritarian regimes in the region to be more tolerant of democratic Islamist parties. In Morocco, where there is an Islamist opposition party, the Justice and Development Party (PJD) that is comparable to Turkey’s governing AKP party, my advice to the monarchy is to open up, because the PJD party accepts the monarchy and the role of King Mohamed as the country’s religious leader.

I am more negative about the situation in Egypt under the authoritarian and dictatorial rule of President Hosni Mubarak, who has run the country for 27 years and where the main opposition to the regime comes from the banned Muslim Brotherhood which is allowed to operate only as a social welfare organisation. The problem is that in Egypt there is now nothing in the country’s political structure that lies between the regime and the extremist Muslim Brotherhood.

The EU should keep open channels of communication with Islamist parties to encourage them to stick to democratic methods and behaviour even if we disagree with their attitudes to the role of women. We in Europe are in favour of dialogue with parties we still don’t trust, like the Muslim Brotherhood, and we should remain loyal to our principles. But ignoring social movements inspired by religious belief is dangerous, and if we don’t communicate with them we will be creating a very real problem.

This section is supported by the Socialist Group (http://www.socialistgroup.eu)