“Has the time come for the EU to become more engaged with Islamic ‘faith-based’ civil society in these countries?” asked the paper co-authored by Solana.

LUXEMBOURG, April 17, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The European Union called on Saturday, April 16, for a dialogue with the “more representative” Islamist opposition groups in the Middle East to encourage a transition to democracy.

On the second day of an informal brainstorming session at a chateau in Luxembourg, the ministers were presented with a paper suggesting that the EU should reach out beyond its traditional secular interlocutors, Reuters reported.

“Has the time come for the EU to become more engaged with Islamic ‘faith-based’ civil society in these countries?” asked the paper co-authored by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Luxembourg, which holds the rotating EU presidency.

“In the past the EU has preferred to deal with the secular intelligentsia of Arab civil society at the expense of the more representative Islam-inspired organizations,” the paper said.

The European ministers also discussed ways to strengthen emerging democracy movements in several Arab states and persuade authoritarian governments to relinquish some power and accept the principle of alternation.

“As the status quo is challenged in several countries in the region, what can the EU do to persuade sitting governments to cede some of their power and allow the emergence of organized moderate political parties?" the paper asked.

Noting reform efforts under way in several Arab countries as well as the emergence of embryonic opposition movements, the European paper said true representative democracy required well-organized parties “that can allow for the smooth alternation of power.”

Talking to Islamic groups could bring the EU into conflict with Israel and incumbent Arab rulers, Reuters said.

The top diplomats further acknowledged that talking to Islamists would be politically sensitive in some EU states and proposed fixing parameters for such a dialogue.

Diplomats said Britain and Denmark, whose queen recently claimed that Islam posed a “global threat,” spoke in favor of talking to moderate Muslim activists, and no one opposed.

Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, who chaired the session, said ministers agreed on the need to reach out to civil society as well as talking to governments.

Germany's first-ever commissioner for dialogue with the Islamic World Gunter Mulack said Friday, April 15, that EU member states were contemplating a new strategy for dialogue with the Muslim world that would see the focus shifting to popular Islamic parties and NGOs.

In an earlier interview with IslamOnline.net, Mulack said the West has itself to blame for mistrust among world Muslims, with the US-British invasion of Iraq and failure to settle the long-standing Middle East conflict.