“Although it expresses the popular will, the decision to ban the construction of new minarets in Switzerland is a source of profound concern to me”, said PACE President, Lluís Maria de Puig, commenting today on the referendum of 28 November. “On the one hand, this position reflects fears within the Swiss population – and the population of Europe as a whole – regarding Islamic fundamentalism; on the other, far from helping to tackle the causes of fundamentalism, it is likely to encourage feelings of exclusion and deepen the rifts in our societies”, he added. (more...)