Qatar’s investments in Kosovo and radical Islam
22.7.2021
Question for written answer E-003722/2021
to the Commission
Rule 138
Dominique Bilde (ID)
On 21 April 2021, Qatar Charity signed three agreements with Kosovo to implement various projects, including the building of mosques[1]. In April 2021, the NGO attended the inauguration of the Sheikh Shuaib Arnaout mosque in Pristina[2].
In 2016, the New York Times warned that radical Islam had been gaining ground in Kosovo, largely on the back of Saudi and Qatari investments[3].
According to Deutsche Welle, fundamentalist Salafism made its first inroads into the Balkans through Saudi-sponsored preachers and mosques in the 1990s[4].
The Western Balkans are the European region with the highest concentration of jihadist returnees from Syria and Iraq[5]. Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Kosovo are reportedly ‘the only European countries to have publicly and voluntarily repatriated adult male citizens affiliated to the Islamic State who had been detained by Kurdish-led forces’[6].
- 1.Does the Commission intend to raise the issue of these Qatari investments – which will also fund the training and salaries of the imams for these mosques – with the Kosovan authorities?
- 2.If short-term visas are waived, how does the Commission intend to mitigate the risks associated with radicalisation and the repatriation of jihadists?
- [1] https://www.gulf-times.com/story/689516/Qatar-Charity-signs-three-agreements-to-implement-
- [2] https://www.gulf-times.com/story/688751/Qatar-Charity-participates-in-Kosovo-s-largest-mos
- [3] https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/22/world/europe/how-the-saudis-turned-kosovo-into-fertile-ground-for-isis.html
- [4] https://www.dw.com/en/could-balkan-nations-become-the-new-hotbeds-of-islamist-extremism/a-39045256
- [5] https://www.lastampa.it/esteri/2020/11/03/news/i-balcani-occidentali-sono-diventati-la-mecca-europea-dei-jihadisti-1.39495872#:~:text=I%20Balcani%20Occidentali%2C%20le%20Repubbliche,dalla%20Siria%20e%20dall%27Iraq.&text=Il%20flusso%20di%20jihadisti%20balcanici,recedere%20e%20fermarsi%20nel%202016
- [6] https://www.janes.com/defence-news/prison-terms-for-repatriated-islamic-state-militants-suggest-lenient-treatment-by-west-balkan-courts/