Slovakia is the last EU Member State without a single mosque, TRT World reports. Previous attempts to build have been halted by politicians. It seems there are different attitudes to the welcoming of Islam into European societies.  Similar to other ‘Visegrád Group’ states Slovakia has clearly chosen another path than most Western European countries.

There is a country in the EU where they do not recognise Islam as a religion and only have a few thousand Muslim residents. Islam must not be taught in schools and the 5,000 Muslims, mostly European ones, who reside in the country are not officially recognised. They account for only 0.1% of the population.

In 2007, politicians changed the country’s laws so that 20,000 signatures from members were required to be recognised by the state. In 2017 they more than doubled the number of necessary signatures.

Not being officially recognised, on the other hand,  poses major difficulties for the group. Among other things, they are not allowed to have official religious leaders, conduct Muslim marriages or receive financial contributions from the State, rights which 18 other recognised religions have.

The reason behind this attitude is the assumption that, according to many of the country’s politicians and citizens, Islam is a serious threat.

“Islamisation begins with kebab and in Bratislava it has already begun. So understand what it could be like in 5-10 years,” says MP Andrej Danko.

According to TRT, the situation was further complicated for the country’s Muslims in connection with the 2015 asylum wave. Slovakia then used the absence of mosques as an argument not to accept any migrants. All in all, the TV channel seems critical about all this above, it also claims that Slovakia violates EU rights laws by not permitting the building of mosques.

However, in the eyes of those who fear Islamisation is a threat to Christianity and European values this video may get a different perspective.

Source:  voiceofeurope.com