http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5691340&cKey=1113651327000LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers were urged on Saturday to consider the previously taboo idea of dialogue with Islamic opposition groups in the Middle East to encourage a transition to democracy.
They discussed ways to strengthen emerging democracy movements in several Arab states and how to persuade authoritarian governments to relinquish some power and accept the principle of alter nation, diplomats said.
On the second day of an informal brain storming session at achateau in Luxembourg, the ministers were presented with a paper that suggested, at least in the form of questions, that the EU should reach out beyond its traditional secular interlocutors.
"In the past the EU has preferred to deal with the secular intelligentsia of Arab civil society at the expense of the more representative Islam-inspired organizations," diplomats quoted the paper as saying.
"Has the time come for the EU to become more engaged with Islamic "faith-based" civil society in these countries?" the paper co-authored by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and the bloc's Luxembourg presidency asked.
What a concept. Dialogue instead of bullets and bombs. I bet it would work too. It even may have had a good chance of working in Iraq at one time? At least before the USA tried to Shocked And Awe them into submission.