Oxford and Cambridge Club Meeting, London

This meeting, funded by the German Foreign Ministry, took place in early December 2011 and brought together European parliamentarians and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region Muslim political actors in order to assess the current situation in North African transitional states and to explore how it may be practical for Europe to assist in the development of stable democracy. Numerous issues were discussed in relation to these objectives, the principal topics being: building democracy; the importance of economic security; pluralism; combining Islam and democracy; the nature and role of Sharia; the relationship between Europe and the MENA region states; mutual negative perceptions between Europe and MENA region Muslim political actors; how Europe may assist; the relationship between the MENA states; and the significance of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.