Pia Kjærsgaard, at a 'peoples hearing' found herself alone when she called for Turkey's application to the EU to be cast aside. 400 members of the public, specifically chosen to represent a broad swathe of Danish society, were gathered at Christiansborg (the home of the Danish Parliment) today to listen to various politicians putting forth arguments on the EU. The majority of the audience supported Marianne Jelved and Villy Søvndal's argument that it was important, both for the EU and for Turkey that the Turkish nation, as it develops into a modern democracy maintains the option of EU membership.
Pia Kjærsgaard's reply was that Turkey was simply not a part of Europe, but a part of Asia. She described it as a corrupt nation which oppressed its minorites and whose religiously toned differences with the rest of Europe were insurmountable. She went ont; "But we mustn't kick Turkey. Increased cooperation through trade deals would be much better, also for Turkey, than EU membership. The nation should have a connection to the EU but it would be a catastrophe to let Turkey join the EU."
Villy Søvndal (Chairman of the Socialist Peoples Party) argued that if the EU closed the door on the Turks, then the undemocratic, fundamentalist forces would be strengthened. EU membership would also help solve the matter of Cypress he added. Marianne Jelved was of the opinion that since Turkey was already NATO member then it was already a European nation (She didn't say whether or not NATO membership qualifies Canada and the USA as being European). "I see no problem in that Turkey is a Muslim nation" Jelved said. "On the contrary. Turkish EU membership is the key to teaching us all to live along side each other, regardless of religion".
Helle Thorning Schmidt was also present at the 'peoples hearing' and she garnered her share of applause. Todays polls also indicate her party has risen again in the opinion of the Danes, whilst Marianne Jelved has seen a decline in popularity.
What the 'peoples hearing' re-established, was the fact that in all the Danish Parliment, there is only one party (Dansk Folkeparti) which maintains a sceptical opinion towards the EU and the question of further EU expansion. This set of affairs has been at odds with the Danish people now for close to two decades, but shows no sign of changing anytime soon.
Interestingly though, the Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, recently spoke out against the EU constitution, calling upon the rest of the EU to get over the loss of the constitution and work towards building European strength. The very next day, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said she thought the EU constitution was still a viable possibility.
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Here is a translation of the Swedish Muslims demand to the Swedish government. Reading through it I note that a lot of it resembles a smoke screen. The argument that Swedish Muslims are not allowed to build mosques for example, strikes me as being pure nonesense. I'm pretty sure Sweden has the same attitude to such things as Denmark does. Any one can build any house of worship they care to (and many have) the only condition is that they pay for it themselves. 'Freedom of Religion' does not mean the majority has to subsidize minority religions, though this seems to be Mahmoud Aldebe's central argument regarding the construction of mosques in Sweden.
I realised recently that if the Muslims of Denmark really wanted their own Grand Mosque as their imams have been claiming than all they have to do is donate 500 kr ($85) each. Surely, if their faith means so much to them, then ½k isn't going to break them! A hundred million kroner would probably pay for a couple of decent mosques. Especially if they bought some old churches and converted them.
What the Swedish Muslims appear to be doing is angling to get the Swedish state to pay for their mosques and introduce some Sharia law. What I can't help but wonder is, if these peope can't even live in Sweden, which must be one of the softest, most accomidating nations on the planet, then where exactly can they live without making such demands?
In the mean time, in its ongoing drive to become the first Muslim majority city in Europe, central Malmø was witness to yet another public shoot out today.
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1 comment:
I was actually one of those chosen to be at the weekend-long hearing about the EU. It was at the University in Odense, not Christiansborg itself. It was a cool weekend with a free banquet, the discussions were dull, unenlightening and boring as the people participating in the hearing were chosen from a broad spectrum of Danish society and I was somewhat more educated and enlightened than most (having History as main and Political science as your sidefag helps). The debate amongst the politicians soon deteriorated into namecalling and mudslinging and rehashing of tired old arguments that are not nuanced nor entirely true. Per Stig Møller was not too bad though, but the rest were crap and Helle Thorning-Schmidt is made of spin.
It was my first of many visits to Odense this past year.
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