European Islam: challenges for public policy and society 

The study addresses the issue of the 15 million Muslims in the EU, who constitute 3% of the population and represent the largest minority religion in the Union. 

The presence of Islam in Western Europe is mainly the result of organised immigration between the countries of origin - Maghreb, sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian sub-continent and Turkey - and European countries, in response to the workforce needs of the latter, recall the authors. 

However, as this immigration was still considered temporary at the end of the 1960s, no public policies on Islamic issues and Muslim communities were implemented in the host countries, they state. 

In the mid-1980s, the Muslim population began giving up on the idea of returning to their home countries, and decided to stay in Europe permanently, they remark. Thus Muslims gradually no longer considered themselves as workers in transit. 

The CEPS study therefore looks at the "endogenous integration process" of Islam in Europe and is structured as follows: 

• Firstly, the authors return to the history of political Islam and observe the "plurality and diversity" of Muslim ideologies and movements in Europe, including actions on the integration of Muslim communities into European political systems, Salafism and the radicalisation of young European Muslims and Islamic terrorists; 
• Secondly, the study looks at developments in the socio-economic status of European Muslims and the discrimination  they face. It covers the economic development of Muslim communities and their access to media, as well as headscarf issues and the consequences of Islamophobia; 
• Finally, the study addresses the issue of institutionalisation of Europe's Muslims and their representation in political life. 

New political and social discourse in relation to Muslim communities should be addressed at European level, conclude the authors. Actions should include elements with a normative doctrine, and provide a coherent framework for the work of governments and civil society, both at national and local level, concludes the study.