Majority of French, Danish & Dutch Positive about Muslims; Most Germans Negative: Poll

Germans are more critical of Islam and less tolerant of building mosques than their neighbours in France, Denmark, the Netherlands and Portugal, a new survey has found.

Despite the often fractious relationships other European countries have with their Muslim communities, people in those countries were relatively positive about Islam and its followers compared to Germany, according to the survey commissioned by a research group based at the University of Münster.

This is surprising, because besides Germany, each of the countries polled has had high-profile conflict with their Muslim communities – such as the cartoons in Denmark, head scarf controversies in France and the murder of anti-Islam filmmaker Theo van Gogh in the Netherlands, as well as the rise of far-right politician Geert Wilders.

Nevertheless, a clear majority of people in those countries have a positive view of Muslims. 62 per cent of Dutch, 56 per cent of French, 55 per cent of Danes and 47 per cent of Portuguese hold positive attitudes on Muslims.

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