Gormez: "The EU must keep working to manage multiculturalism"

The European Union must continue playing its part to manage multiculturalism, not expecting the solution to come from religion and religious institutions alone, said Religious Affairs Directorate head Mehmet Gormez yesterday. Speaking to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council Europe (PACE) ahead of its discussion of a report on religions' contributions to intercultural ties, Gormez hailed the PACE meeting and the report as "a promising development for the future of both Europe and the globe in a setting where several European politicians and opinion leaders compete to 'mis-declare' that multiculturalism in Europe has failed." Gormez also said religions alone cannot be blamed for the confusion and heightened tension in European societies, adding that "its own horizons of politics and its inability to go beyond its self-established boundaries cannot go unquestioned."