The EU’s Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini has sent a survey to the EU capitals asking them how they deal with violent radical interpretations of Islam so ideas can be pooled and methods shared. This was in response to the failed car-bomb attempts at London and Glasgow. The 18-question survey asks what policies are being used by EU member states to ensure that education establishments are not vulnerable to radical interpretations of Islam, what policies are adopted on funding and supervision of religious schools and also asks how EU member states are trying to diminish the threat of a radical having access to any form of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear scientific knowledge.

EU states are expected to reply by the end of September and the answers will then feed into a Commission document, due for publication in 2008, which will then help form an EU-wide strategy on violent radicalisation.

This is a great opportunity for the UK to have a huge influence on an EU initiative that could bring so many benefits home. The UK is one of the main targets of Islamist terrorism in Europe, and therefore, has the a lot to gain from an EU-wide strategy to combat radical Islam.

It also highlights why we are fully-fledged members of the EU, and serves as a warning to those like UKIP who would withdraw us from the EU into a simple trade association. This is a policy area where the UK needs to have influence. The terrorists that attacked the United States on September 11th were part of what was called the “Hamburg cell” in Germany. Who is to say that terrorist cells hidden away in cities across the EU are not planning attacks on UK soil? If we want fellow EU governments to take similar measures to the UK in order to combat this threat, then we can use the EU framework to achieve this.

Equally, Britain can underline that the majority of Muslims are, of course, not radical or violent and highlight its experience in integrating Muslims successfully into our diverse society.