Minister considers 45 per cent of Muslims in Austria unwilling to integrate

Alert DateMay 1, 2006 Country: Austria Address: Vienna General Type: Racist discourse Racism and discrimination phenomena: Islamophobia
Groups affected / Interested in: Muslims Key socio-economic/institutional areas: Political discourse -parties - orgs Hate speech/Racist Discourse Medium: Public Discourse, Political Discourse
Victims Data
Victims Nationality/Ethnic Origin N/A
Victims Gender N/A
Victims Age N/A
Victims Number N/A
Fatalities - deaths N/A
Perpetrators Data
Perpetrators Nationality/Ethnic Origin Austrian
Perpetrator Gender Female
Perpetrator Age 56-65
Perpetrators Number 1
Extremist/Organised Group Violence No

In May 2006, the Minister of the Interior, Ms Liese Prokop of the conservative Austrian People’s Party, claimed that a study commissioned by her Ministry had found that 45% of the Muslim population in Austria were not willing to integrate. She added that such people had no place in Austria. Although the author of the study, Prof Mathias Rohe of the University of Erlangen, stated that the study had found a distance between majority and minority population without attributing its reason to unwillingness on the part of the minority, the Minister has repeatedly insisted on her interpretation, speaking of a mere difference in the choice of words.

Muslim organisations from various backgrounds jointly voiced their concern that the formula of an alleged “unwillingness to integrate” on the part of Muslims might have a negative impact on the social climate, and underlined the importance of a careful choice of words.

Source: http://derstandard.at/2445751 (2006-05-13)

http://www.fes.de/BerlinerAkademiegespraeche/publikationen/migration/documents/PerspektivenundHerausforderungen_1.pdf (2011-05-02)

http://newsv1.orf.at/060519-165/index.html (2006-08-30) 

http://www.parlament.gv.at/PAKT/PR/JAHR_2006/PK0602/index.shtml (2006-06-22) 

http://www.derislam.at/?c=content&p=beitragdet&v=beitraege&cssid=%E2%80%9EIntegrationsunwillig%E2%80%9C?%20%E2%80%93%20Wir%20nicht!&navid=891&par=50&bid=109 (2011-09-20).