The European Union has declared the year 2008 “European Year of Intercultural Dialogue”. The initiative aims at reinforcing social cohesion and civic peace in Europe. It stems from the acknowledgement that Europeans must learn to live together in diversity increased by circulation of people and ideas. An important aspect of this increased diversity is the growth of the number of people of Muslim origin in a traditionally majority Christian space. With regard to EU’s external policy, the year 2008 seeks, among other things, to develop EU’s relations with Mediterranean partner countries, anchored in the Arab-Muslim civilisation.

As a part of their contribution for the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, the Church and Society Commission of CEC (CEC), the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE) and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), in association with Muslim partners, organises a series of seminars under the overall theme of “Islam, Christianity and Europe”. The target audience of the seminars are EU politicians and civil servants. The main rationale is to expose the complexity of issues linked to Islam, Christianity and Europe and by doing that to question stereotypes. Each seminar is arranged in the form of a panel discussion with a moderator, an academic expert, a Muslim speaker, a Christian speaker and a Member of the European Parliament in charge of the synthesis. The seminars are hosted by the European Parliament in Brussels.

17 April 2008   Intercultural dialogue: response to which problems?
Christian and Muslim perspectives

PROGRAMME    EVENT REPORT

29 May 2008   Visibility of religion in the European public space: the question of worship places and religious symbols in clothing

PROGRAMME    EVENT REPORT

3 July 2008   ‘Christian Europe’ and Islam in Europe

PROGRAMME   EVENT REPORT

11 September 2008   The external relations of the European Union with Muslim countries
and the international responsibility of religious communities

PROGRAMME   EVENT REPORT