Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-03-12-Speech-2-132"
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"en.20020312.7.2-132"2
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"Mr President, as we have stated repeatedly, the Group of the European People’s Party condemns any form of fundamentalism and in that sense, we think it important for this report to be drafted in Parliament, and have endorsed it accordingly.
Fundamentalists have turned the myth of their religion into a streamlined ideology which forms the basis of their polity, and it is absolutely vital for the West to understand this fundamentalism. Our intelligentsia must make this effort. At the same time, Europe’s Christian, or post-Christian, society must re-affirm its own, moral identity, this with the intention of being better able to protect its own values, and of understanding what is happening in the rest of the world, or what is happening with the 2.5 million Muslims who live in the European Union today.
The treatment of women under fundamentalist regimes, the topic of this report, is a burning issue. Denial of their rights and their dignity is unacceptable, but unfortunately, the rapporteur failed to draft a report which draws a distinction between religious perception and the place of religion in society on the one hand, and religious fundamentalism on the other. As a result, religion is being denied what other institutions and movements are being granted, namely the freedom of opinion and expression of this opinion, even if that opinion is partly seen as not conforming to the development of society. I share this view.
This is why the PPE-DE Group in the Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities has not accepted the text, despite however much it is opposed to the oppression of women. Together with a number of feminist groups in Afghanistan, I have personally in my group launched a support campaign in order to give them the chance to emancipate. If Europe wants to have any influence at all, and that is, after all, the aim of our campaign – the aim is not to launch an empty slogan, but to exert influence – we will need to learn to understand fundamentalism, whether we like it or not. I should like to conclude my speech with a reaction of the mufti of Marseille. It is in English, and I think that he is right and that it should determine our attitude too.
The mufti of Marseille"@en1
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