“Sharia is not compatible with European legal standards.”

Press release

from EPP-ED Group in the European Parliament 

“Islamic law laid down in the Sharia is not compatible with European fundamental rights and standards. The fact that there are different forms of the Sharia does not change anything in this matter.” This is the conclusion drawn today by German MEP Renate Sommer after an expert hearing on the topic ‘Sharia in Europe?’ in the European Parliament.

The background of this hearing, initiated by Renate Sommer, is a tendency that legal institutions in the European Union have to cope with the Sharia due to growing numbers of immigrants from Muslim countries. “From case to case, attempts have been made to adapt the application of secular and civil law to Sharia law in certain EU Member States”, said Sommer. At the same time, she warned that “creeping islamisation” on the basis of a wrongly understood tolerance poses a growing threat. “There is no discussion to forbid Islam or to restrict private worshipping. There is however the increasing danger that the development of Islamic parallel societies will also lead to the establishment of the Sharia as an additional legal system. Here, EU Member States must set boundaries very clearly as well as quickly.”

Renate Sommer, Vice-Chairwoman of the Delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee of the European Parliament and Member of the EPP-ED-Working Group on ‘Dialogue with Islam’, also pointed out that the head scarf is not a religious, but a purely political symbol: “We must therefore monitor very closely current developments in Turkey where the prohibition of the head scarf in public premises is now under discussion. A possible abolition would definitely be a further, serious step on the way to ‘islamising’ Turkey”.

In view of the radical currents of Islam, there must not, however, be a development into the other extreme such as a total prohibition of all religious symbols in the European Union. This would not serve anybody either, because free belief and worshipping are fundamental rights, but religion must remain private and may not expand into public, social and legal affairs. “We should be very clear and precise in defining and defending our European culture and its values. These cover, besides the freedom of speech, thought and religious belief, also the protection of human rights including the specific rights of women. Thus the Sharia is in no way - even in its ‘moderate’ form - compatible with European standards”, Renate Sommer concluded.

Translation from the original German

For further information:
Renate Sommer MEP, Tel: +32-2-2847383
Knut Goelz, EPP-ED Press Service, Tel: +32-479-972144

Notes to Editors:
The EPP-ED Group is the largest political group in the European Parliament with 278 Members from all 27 Member States.