REJECTION OF OOSTLANDER REPORT IN EU PARLIAMENT

The Oostlander Report on fundamentalism that was going through the European Parliament has just been rejected. The document, which was supposedly to deal with the dangers of violent fundamentalism from all religions, was in fact a specific and unjustified attack on Islam and Muslims in Europe.

The Islamic Foundation, with the support of many Muslim organisations throughout the UK, highlighted the dangers of this report and brought it to the attention of Members of the European Parliament. The Foundation also contacted the major Muslim organisations in Europe urging them to lobby their local MEPs. As a result of these efforts Labour MEPs acknowledged the discriminatory and dangerous nature of the report, endorsed the Muslim viewpoint and actively worked for the rejection of the report by a full plenary of the European Parliament.

The report came before a full plenary on the 14th July 1998 and was rejected by 305 votes to 158. In letters to the Islamic Foundation and other leading Muslim organisations, Labour MEP, Pauline Green, said: "I have always rejected, and will continue to reject, the scare-mongering approach of Oostlander, which runs counter to the multicultural, ethnically diverse Europe that I represent".