'Islamic Terrorism' Is Too Emotive A Phrase, Says EU
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Courtesy of: The Telegraph (UK)
By David Rennie in Brussels
Filed: 12/04/2006

European governments should shun the phrase "Islamic terrorism" in favour of "terrorists who abusively invoke Islam," say guidelines from EU officials.

Backed by diplomats and civil servants from the 25 EU members, the officials are drafting a "non-emotive lexicon for discussing radicalisation" to be submitted to Tony Blair and other leaders in June.

The Brussels officials hope the new lexicon, which would not be legally binding, would be adopted by governments and other institutions, such as the European Commission and European Parliament.

An EU official said: "The basic idea behind it is to avoid the use of improper words that would cause frustration among Muslims and increase the risk of radicalisation."

Along with civil servants from the Home Office, the officials have reviewed the impact of such terms as Islamist, fundamentalist and Jihad when describing acts of terrorism and murder.

"Jihad means something for you and me; it means something else for a Muslim," EU officials at a Berlin conference on radicalisation said.

"Jihad is a perfectly positive concept of trying to fight evil within yourself."

The lexicon is being discussed only at a "working group level" but has the support of Gijs de Vries, the EU's counter-terrorism co-ordinator.

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