{"id":359698,"date":"2025-08-20T15:07:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T15:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/359698\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T15:07:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T15:07:10","slug":"eu-statistics-on-european-muslims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/359698\/","title":{"rendered":"EU Statistics on European Muslims"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This is the fifth part in a ten-part series. To read more, please see parts 1<\/a>, 2<\/a>, 3<\/a> and 4<\/a> here.]<\/p>\n

Caff\u00e8 Italiano:<\/strong> The two meet again and over coffee and begin conversing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

EU bureaucrat: <\/strong>My boss said we should approach issues relating to Muslims in Europe through statistics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Islamofactist:<\/strong> That\u2019s great news. That means we agree that statistics are an essential tool for making, evaluating and improving public policy?<\/p>\n

EU bureaucrat:<\/strong> My boss would agree, as would I.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Islamofactist:<\/strong> In that case, does your 2017 survey<\/a> on EU minorities have statistical information useful to policymakers to lessen discrimination against Muslims in Europe?\u00a0<\/p>\n

EU bureaucrat:<\/strong> You bet! It\u2019s a gold mine of information \u201con issues ranging from citizenship, trust and tolerance, through discrimination and police stops based on an individual\u2019s ethnic background, to rights awareness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Islamofactist: <\/strong>And what purpose does the EU want the survey to serve?<\/p>\n

EU bureaucrat: <\/strong>It\u2019s very versatile as it provides a sound basis \u201cto support the effectiveness of a wide range of measures in the areas of integration and non-discrimination, as well as internal security policy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Islamofactist:<\/strong> I\u2019m glad. And is it a fact that your survey sampled 10,527 Muslims who were first- and second-generation Muslims in the EU, and it claims to be \u201crepresentative of selected groups of immigrants\u201d?<\/p>\n

EU bureaucrat:<\/strong> That\u2019s correct.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Islamofactist:<\/strong> Next, is it a fact that according to The World Economic Forum<\/a>, \u201cThe oldest and simplest justification for government is as protector: protecting citizens from violence \u2026 including protecting citizens from each other\u201d?<\/p>\n

EU bureaucrat:<\/strong> Of course, that\u2019s why we have referred to the issue of internal security policy in our survey.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Islamofactist:<\/strong> Can you give me an example of the types of statistics your survey has on internal security policy?<\/p>\n

EU bureaucrat:<\/strong> Sure. Our survey finds that of \u201call Muslim respondents, 16 % were stopped by the police in the 12 months preceding the survey and 7% say that this was because of their immigrant or ethnic minority background. Of those Muslim respondents, the police stopped in that period, 42 % believe this was because of their immigrant or ethnic minority background.\u201d<\/p>\n

Islamofactist:<\/strong> If I understand you correctly, you are concerned because Muslims are being targeted more than their percentage in the population?<\/p>\n

EU bureaucrat:<\/strong> You understand me correctly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Islamofactist:<\/strong> Good. Next, is it a fact that on page 50, your survey found that 11% of Muslim respondents consider physical violence to be \u201csometimes or always acceptable\u201d because \u201csomeone has insulted their religion\u201d?<\/p>\n

EU bureaucrat:<\/strong> Is that so?! You\u2019ve really read our survey closely, haven\u2019t you?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Islamofactist:<\/strong> I have. Is it a fact that the total population<\/a> of Europe is 727 million, of which about 49 million are Muslim?<\/p>\n

EU bureaucrat:<\/strong> That sounds about right. Why?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Islamofactist:<\/strong> Then let\u2019s do a simple calculation. 11% of 49 million European Muslims works out to 5.39 million Muslims, who consider, based on your survey, that violence is \u201csometimes or always acceptable\u201d because someone has insulted their religion \u2013 Islam, of course. That means, in the case of Paris, which has a population of around 2.1 million<\/a>, the number of Muslims who sometimes or always approve of violence when their religion has been insulted would amount to more than a quarter of the city\u2019s population. Would that fact be logically relevant while discussing the issue of public security policy?\u00a0<\/p>\n

EU bureaucrat:<\/strong> (squirming) Damn number crunchers. What do they know about policy-making in any case?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Islamofactist:<\/strong> Let\u2019s dig deeper. Your survey also refers to police stops. It states: \u201cOf all Muslim respondents, 16% were stopped by the police in the 12 months preceding the survey, and 7% said this was because of their immigrant or ethnic minority background.\u201d Even more seriously, \u201cin the five years preceding the survey, 29 % of all Muslim respondents were stopped by the police and 9 % say that this was because of their immigrant or ethnic minority background.\u201d Do these percentages concern you?<\/p>\n

EU bureaucrat:<\/strong> Very much. The percentage of Muslims stopped by the police is much higher than that of other populations. I\u2019m concerned about the discrimination and victimization of Muslims in the EU.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Islamofactist:<\/strong> Did your survey probe what effect it might have on Muslims?<\/p>\n

EU bureaucrat: <\/strong>Thoroughly. Our survey did a multivariate regression analysis and found that there is a \u201cnegative association between experiences of discrimination, harassment and violence based on ethnic or immigrant background and respondents\u2019 level of attachment to the [survey] country.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Islamofactist:<\/strong> In simple terms, those Muslims who felt badly treated felt worse about the European country they lived in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

EU bureaucrat: <\/strong>Correct. That stands to reason.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Islamofactist:<\/strong> The use of multivariate regression<\/a> analysis, or the method of modeling multiple responses to one set of predictor variables, is interesting to find out the impact on Muslims, but the logical issue is its consistent use.\u00a0<\/p>\n

EU bureaucrat: <\/strong>I don\u2019t understand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Islamofactist:<\/strong> It\u2019s obvious. Given the fact that 5.39 million Muslims in the EU think it is sometimes or always acceptable to use violence because someone has insulted Islam, has the EU ever tried to use regression analysis using the number of Muslims that approve of such violence as the independent variable and their involvement in crime or the number of terror attacks in Europe as the dependent variable?\u00a0<\/p>\n

EU bureaucrat:<\/strong> Good heavens, no! That would be racial profiling.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Islamofactist:<\/strong> I\u2019m puzzled. If you can analyze crimes or harassment committed against Muslims as a group using multivariate analysis, why can\u2019t you analyze violations of the law committed by Muslims? It\u2019s the same group. Why not be consistent in the use of regression analysis?\u00a0<\/p>\n

EU bureaucrat:<\/strong> Be realistic. Consistency and governance don\u2019t go together. Besides, why should the EU be consistent?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Islamofactist: <\/strong>Because it\u2019s EU law. <\/strong>The fact is \u201cthe principle of consistency<\/a> has a prominent place in EU law, which manifests itself within both horizontal and vertical levels of governance.\u201d There are numerous references to consistency in the Treaty of Lisbon as a legal obligation assigned to EU institutions. What do you have to say about that?\u00a0<\/p>\n

EU bureaucrat: <\/strong>Would you mind if I checked with my boss?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Islamofactist: <\/strong>Sure.<\/p>\n

EU bureaucrat: <\/strong>Let me see if I\u2019ve understood you correctly today. I got two takeaways: First, your Islamofactist method shows us that 5.39 million European Muslims consider that \u2019violence is \u201csometimes or always acceptable\u201d because someone has insulted their religion, which should be concerning to us. And second, for the sake of consistency, which is grounded in EU law, we ought to consider when Muslims are victims as well as aggressors. Correct?<\/p>\n

Islamofactist: <\/strong>Correct. And remember, all I\u2019ve done is use facts from your EU survey and laws.\u00a0<\/p>\n

EU bureaucrat: <\/strong>Man. This is wild stuff. Let\u2019s continue tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Islamofactist: <\/strong>Sure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

EU bureaucrat: <\/strong>(to the server) <\/strong>L\u2019addition, s\u2019il vous pla\u00eet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They tussle over who will pay the bill and decide to split it. Outside, each goes their way, melting into the crowds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

[Cheyenne Torres<\/a> edited this piece.]<\/p>\n

The views expressed in this article are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer\u2019s editorial policy.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[This is the fifth part in a ten-part series. To read more, please see parts 1, 2, 3…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,126566,299,5187,126567,126568,126569,126570],"class_list":{"0":"post-359698","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-eu-discrimination-survey","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-european","12":"tag-european-muslim-discrimination","13":"tag-islamophobia-debate","14":"tag-muslim-discrimination","15":"tag-muslims-in-europe"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115061721907682759","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}