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European Parliament Chief Calls for Establishing CIA-like Intelligence Agency | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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European Parliament’s President Antonio Tajani. Reuters


Brussels – King Philippe of Belgium has sent a personal invitation to Egypt’s Grand Mufti Dr. Shawki Allam to visit Brussles, according to a diplomatic source in Belgium and EU’s capital city.

The source told Asharq Al-Awsat that this invitation is a clear evidence of the status enjoyed by the Mufti as a symbol of Islamic leaders and institutions in Egypt.

The headquarters of the European Parliament in Brussels announced that its President Antonio Tajani will meet the Grand Mufti on Thursday.

The two parties are expected to address combating terrorism and extremism and review the role of Islamic and legislative institutions in both Europe and the Islamic world to confront the common danger faced by them, according to some observers in Brussels.

This danger is represented in the scourge of extremism, which is followed by falling in terrorism bates and carrying out terrorist operations that target innocent civilians.

The Mufti’s last visit to the EU Parliament was in March 2016 and coincided with Brussels attacks that left 32 dead and 300 injured.

He also visited Brussels in September 2014, thus, according to some observers, the coming meeting is an opportunity for both sides to learn about their achievements in 2016 in the pathway of facing terrorism and extremism threat.

In his speech before Foreign Affairs Committee MEPs in 2016, the Grand Mufti said that Islamic clerics have vowed to spread the real image of Islam, noting that it helps everyone in living together in peace, stability and mutual cooperation since terrorism threatens all people without exceptions.

Mufti Allam stressed that fatwa is considered one of the most important means of the societies’ stability, yet extremist groups are using them as tools to destroy the societies and spread chaos.

Last week, Tajani called for establishing a European intelligence agency such as the US CIA to combat terrorism in Europe.

In the sidelines of his visit to the book-fair in Milano, Tajani said that intelligence agencies should cooperate more, maybe like EU CIA coordination, to be able to gather all the information they need as terrorists have no geographical boundaries and so should be the case with those fighting terrorism.