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Islam as a factor in the design of a European Neighbourhood Policy in the Balkans
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European Commission. Bulgaria 2005 - Comprehensive Monitoring Report, Enlargement Package, 25 October 2005.
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The Commission, as guardian of the Treaties, is now monitoring Bulgaria’s preparations for accession in order to ensure that this country can meet all the duties and requirements of a fully-fledged Member State by accession, in the interest of both current Member States and Bulgaria. This Comprehensive Monitoring Report presents the results of the Commission’s assessment of Bulgaria’s preparations for accession. It covers the political and economic reforms undertaken by Bulgaria to meet EU requirements as well as its implementation of the EU legal order which is to be respected by each and every Member State, the so-called acquis communautaire. The Report assesses the situation up to the end of September 2005.
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Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly. Recommendation No. 1162 on the contribution of the Islamic civilisation to European culture, 19 September 1991.
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The recommendation of the Council of Europe on the contribution of the Islamic civilization to European culture is based on its statutory mission to safeguard and realise the spiritual and moral values which are the common heritage of its member states. It states that, in addition to Christianity and Judaism, Islam in its different forms has over the centuries had an influence on European civilisation and everyday life, and not only in countries with a Muslim population such as Turkey. The new Europe as well is becoming increasingly subject to influences from Islam, not only through the regions of predominantly Islamic culture such as Albania or some southern republics of the former USSR, but also by immigration from the wider Islamic world. In this respect, Council’s recommendations are drawn in the field of education, culture, administrative questions, everyday life and multilateral cooperation to enhance the respect of religion close to many people in different continents.
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Herrmann, Peter and Tausch, Arno (eds.). Dar al Islam. The Mediterranean, the World System and the Wider Europe: The Chain of Peripheries and the New Wider Europe, Nova Science, UK, April 2005.
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With the process of a 'wider Europe' (EU-Commission President Romano Prodi’s 'ring of friends') that extends from Marrakech in Morocco to St. Petersburg in Russia gathering speed, the growing rift between Europe and America also is about how to deal politically with the countries of the Mediterranean-Muslim world. The house of Islam (Dar al Islam) was pivotal to the European path to the Renaissance and to the re-discovery of classic Greek philosophy. The Mediterranean policy of the European Union aims at a positive and co-operative relationship with the region. A successful integration of the Mediterranean South would have tremendous and positive repercussions for regional and world peace. World-wide leading experts from the field of world systems analysis, economics, integration theory, political science, theology and area studies, agnostics, Christians, Jews and Muslims alike discuss the issue with European decision makers. The outcome is an interdisciplinary evaluation of this projected export of peace, co-operation, dialogue and stability in the framework of world centre-periphery relationships.
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Savage, Timothy M. “Europe and Islam: Crescent Waxing, Cultures Clashing”, Washington Quarterly, Summer 2004, 27(3), pp. 25–50.
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As it has historically, the world of Islam may do more to define and shape Europe in the twenty-first century than the United States, Russia, or even the European Union. The Islamic challenge that Europe faces today is twofold. Internally, Europe must integrate a ghettoized but rapidly growing Muslim minority that many Europeans view as encroaching upon the collective identity and public values of European society. Externally, Europe needs to devise a viable approach to the primarily Muslim-populated volatile states, stretching from Casablanca to the Caucasus, that are a central focus of the EU’s recently adopted security strategy “A Secure Europe in a Better World” and its nascent “Wider Europe—New Neighborhood” initiative. This paper discusses old and new phenomena in European-Islamic nexus and warns against “Fortress Europe” decline on the domestic and international stage if dynamics do not change.
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Jerch, Martin. Reforming Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries: Wider Europe, Greater Middle East or the Alexandria Statement? A critical assessment, Catania University, Italy 2005.
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Over the last few years, the region of the Middle East and North Aftica has received a close attention of the EU and the USA so that an intensifying trend concerning the promotion of democracy – the core objective of the EU’s external policy – can be detected. Testimony to this intensification is a variety of documents and proposals whose main issues are to reform and democratize the region. This paper presents a study of different approaches to reforms and democracy in the light of the reform experience of the Arab countries, as well as reform approaches of Wider Europe, the Greater Middle East Initiative and the Alexandria Statement. The author finally suggests that, in order to introduce effective and sustainable reforms, a synergy of different approaches – namely economic and political one – is necessary.
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Grillo, Ralph and Soares, Benjamin F. Transnational Islam in Western Europe. ISIM Review 15, Spring 2005.
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Islam is undeniably transnational, yet Muslims may experience transnationalism differently depending on their countries of origin and residence and mode of settlement. This article indicates some of the various ways in which Islam and transnationalism intersect, and suggests how transnationalism impinges on contemporary debates about how to live as a Muslim in Western Europe and on the emergence of a “European Islam” or “European-Muslim” identity.
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Karlov, Anton and Shopov, Vladimir. The impact of EU expansion on Bulgaria: Recommendations, LGI, 28 October 2004.
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The authors analyze the impact of EU expansion on Bulgaria, in particular focusing on political perspectives and implementation of Schengen agreement. They discuss possible implications this agreement might have on a socio-economic reality and national migration policy and draw recommendations for policy makers in terms of co – operation with “neighborhood states”.
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Danchin, Peter G. and Elizabeth A. Col (eds.) The Protection of Religious Minorities in Eastern Europe, Center for the Study of Human Rights, Columbia University, New York, 2002.
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"This is an outstanding collection of theoretical and empirical studies from a range of local, regional and global, multi-disciplinary and comparative perspectives, exploring the possibilities and testing the limits of a human rights approach to the protection of religious minorities." - Abdullahi A. An-Na'im, Emory Law School.
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Makariev, Plamen. Education of Moslem-minority children in the Balkans: Overcoming the cultural gap, International Policy Fellowships, 2001.
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The study of Islam as a freely elective subject is still under discussion, although there are no normative obstacles for it. Another matter is the study of Islam at the religious secondary schools, which prepare imams for the needs of the religious practices of the Moslem population, and which have a special status. The main objective of this policy project is to consider different options for developing minority education in Bulgaria, and sort out by means of policy analysis their shortcomings and advantages, outlining as a result the most acceptable solution and formulating respective policy recommendations.
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Emerson, Michael. An Interim Plan for South-East Europe: Customs Union with the EU and a Regional Schengen for the Free Movement of People, CEPS Policy Briefs 2005.
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Pending clarification of further enlargement prospects for the whole of the Western Balkans, Michael Emerson argues in this paper that there is every reason to consolidate the positive recent developments with further initiatives of strategic importance to the region. He explores two outstanding candidates for this purpose: 1) enlargement of the existing Customs Union of the EU and Turkey to include the whole of the Western Balkans, and 2) a South-East European Schengen Agreement for the free movement of people.
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