Austria plans ‘non-emotive’ terrorism jargon

By David Cronin

Date: 16/02/06

Austria's EU presidency wants to develop "non-emotive" terminology for discussing terrorism as part of the Union's response to the Danish cartoons controversy.

Officials say that the idea of developing a guide for EU policymakers to avoid any simplistic equation between Islam and violent extremism has assumed a greater urgency in the past few weeks.

Vienna has contacted other capitals of EU states, inviting contributions on what such a lexicon should contain. It hopes to secure an agreement on the dossier by June.

An EU official following the discussions said one key objective was to decide how representatives of the Union should broach sensitive matters when they travel to largely Muslim countries.

The discussions are closely linked to the implementation of the strategy on so-called radicalisation and recruitment, approved by EU governments in late 2005.

Austria is to host two conferences touching on EU-Islam relations during its time at the helm of the EU: a gathering of 'pan-European imam prayer leaders' in April and a conference on racism and xenophobia in June. "The presidency is working on all the different ways to promote better understanding between the Western world and the Arab world," said a spokesman for the Austrian government.

Discussions are also taking place on how Muslim communities in Europe can be discouraged from relying on clerics who preach hatred and on having an exchange of information between EU states on deportations or expulsions relating to terrorism, including those of extremist imams.

Despite the high-profile case of London-based cleric Abu Hamza, recently imprisoned for seven years for incitement to murder and racial hatred, the discussion on how the EU can co-ordinate efforts at EU level remains at an early stage, according to officials.

Sheikh Faiz Siddiqi from the UK's Muslim Action Committee said: "If the EU is taking steps to ensure that terminology used distinguishes between Islam and terrorism, then this has to be welcomed. We don't want demonisation of our faith, we want a level-playing field."

The Liberal Democrat MEP Sajjad Karim said that there was a need for "responsible politicians" to address the "direct relationship that has been created in the Western media between religion and terrorism".

Karim said that an investigation should take place into how the cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb-carrying turban have led to a major furore in the past few weeks, given that they were first published in a Danish newspaper in September.

Article reports that Austria's EU presidency was planning to develop 'non-emotive' terminology for discussing terrorism as part of the Union's response to the Danish cartoons controversy. The discussions were closely linked to the implementation of the strategy on so-called radicalisation and recruitment, approved by EU governments in late 2005.