Imam Yahya Pallavicini, President of COREIS (Islamic Religious Community) Italy and co-Vice President of MJLC, the Europe Muslim-Jewish Leadership Council and coordinator of EULEMA, the European Muslim Leaders’ Majlis, has met online with MEP Roberta Metsola, Vice President of the European Parliament today.

President Yahya Pallavicini thanked VP Metsola for her generous video participation in the event COREIS had co-organized for International Remembrance Day, where she delivered the opening message from the European Institutions. On that occasion, VP Metsola expressed her solidarity with the Jewish communities in Europe, praising the other religious communities who actively defended the religious and civil rights of their Jewish brothers and sisters when they saw them being denied.

A reference to the model of respect for Jewish symbols and families demonstrated by the Muslim community in Sarajevo was highlighted as a positive example. Rabbi David Rosen of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) from Jerusalem as well as H.E. Faisal Bin Muaammar, Secretary General of the International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID)- both of whom support the MJLC and EULEMAhave expressed their congratulations and agreement with this important message.

The MJLC and EULEMA, inspired by the EU Anti-Racism Action Plan 2020-2025, are organizing events to counter hate speech and discrimination (Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia) and promote cooperation and knowledge through interreligious educational training and capacity building of European religious leaders in 2021. The support of the European Parliament and the participation of VP Metsola, for example with a keynote address, has been requested and would be highly valued.

During the meeting Imam Pallavicini focused on the need for programs to develop cross-sector cooperation with the Muslim communities and institutions in Europe in order to develop a European Muslim Identity based on a culture of belonging to European society where Freedom of Religion and Interreligious Dialogue are part of the core values of life.

Vice President Metsola was interested to hear the vision of the representative Muslim members of EULEMA to develop cooperation with secular actors and institutions from local to the international level, trying to bridge and unite tradition and modernity, East and West, religion and secular democracy, and to avoid any ghettoization or ideological interference that corrupts the harmonious integration of any religious believer into contemporary society.

The conversation also touched upon issues such as the legislation regulating halal/kosher rituals and the integration of migrants due to the debate about these matters in recent weeks. The ban from the European Court of Justice concerning ritual slaughter and the experience of COREIS in Italy managing the difficult journey of migrants towards achieving citizenship, with support and respect for religious diversity in the context of western society, are evidence of the challenges which remain to be solved. Future initiatives with Religions for Peace International and UNHCR will be focusing on this program.

Vice President Roberta Metsola looks forward to developing this important cooperation and she hopes to organize a face-to-face meeting in Brussels in June.