VZCZCXRO2020
PP RUEHAG RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHLH RUEHPW RUEHROV
DE RUEHMD #2238/01 3481239
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 141239Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3944
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNISL/ISLAMIC COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA PRIORITY 3199

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MADRID 002238 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
EUR/FO FOR FARAH PANDITH 
EUR/PPD FOR JEAN DUGGAN 
DEPT FOR MAJ ANDREW BRINKMAN, PM/ISO 
DEPT PLEASE PASS NWC CAPT TOM HALE, DR. MIKE MAZARR 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/13/2017 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KISL KIRF KPLS SP
SUBJECT: SPAIN/ISLAM: GOS SURVEY FINDS MUSLIM IMMIGRANTS 
FAIRLY CONTENT 
 
MADRID 00002238  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
Classified By: DCM Hugo Llorens for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (U)  SUMMARY:  The Government of Spain released its second 
annual survey of first generation immigrants of Muslim faith 
on December 11.  The results, which generally described a 
tolerant and fairly content Muslim population in Spain, 
closely corresponded with those of the 2006 survey. 
Eighty-three percent of respondents described themselves as 
adapted or well-adapted to life in Spain, while 74 percent 
said they felt comfortable or very comfortable in Spain. 
Eighty-four percent of respondents said they had not 
encountered any type of obstacle in the practice of their 
religion in Spain.  Ninety percent of respondents strongly 
agreed with the statement, "Violence is an absolutely 
unacceptable form of defending and spreading religious 
beliefs," while two percent strongly disagreed.  Seventy-four 
percent agreed that the State should be absolutely neutral 
with respect to religion.  The Minister of Justice described 
the results of the survey as "highly encouraging," but GOS 
leaders cautioned against complacency and pointed to the 
challenge as addressing the needs of the second generation - 
Muslim children of Spanish nationality who are an increasing 
presence in the Spanish education system.  END SUMMARY. 
 
//THE SURVEY AND ITS PROBLEMS/ 
 
¶2. (U)  The Ministries of Justice, Interior, and Labor and 
Social Affairs joined forces in 2007 to sponsor a survey 
entitled "The Muslim Community of Immigrant Origin in Spain" 
conducted by reputable Spanish polling agency Metroscopia. 
The agency polled 2,000 Muslims throughout Spain, targeting 
geographic areas in proportion to the approximate 
distribution of Muslim immigrants throughout the country, in 
June and July of 2007.  Fifty seven percent of respondents 
were Moroccan, twelve percent from Senegal, 11 percent from 
Pakistan, and five percent from Algeria.  Metroscopia issued 
two cautions.  First, the survey results may have trended 
overly positive, based on a phenomenon called "social 
desirability," in which respondents of a potentially 
marginalized group are inclined to answer sensitive and/or 
controversial questions with what they perceive to be the 
socially desirable response.  Second, the Muslim immigrant 
population in Spain is not entirely on the grid, making it 
difficult to gauge the opinions of those immigrants who have 
immigrated illegally, are unreachable by phone, or are 
unwilling to participate.  Nevertheless, Metroscopia stands 
by the overall validity of the survey.  In 2006, the Ministry 
of Interior hired Metroscopia to conduct a similar survey, 
which found that the Muslim community overall in Spain was 
generally tolerant and well-adapted. 
 
¶3. (U)  Eighty-three percent of respondents to the 2007 
survey described themselves as adapted or well-adapted to 
life in Spain; 14 percent were not well adapted or not at all 
adapted.  Seventy-four percent said they felt comfortable or 
very comfortable living in Spain; six percent were slightly 
or very uncomfortable.  Eighty-four percent of respondents 
said they had not encountered any type of obstacle in the 
practice of their religion in Spain, while 13 percent said 
they had.  Ninety percent of respondents agreed with the 
statement, "Violence is an absolutely unacceptable form of 
defending and spreading religious beliefs," while two percent 
disagreed.  Seventy-four percent agreed that the State should 
be absolutely neutral with respect to religion.  Seventy-four 
percent of respondents agreed that "In Spain today, Muslims 
and Christians are not trying hard enough to understand and 
respect each other."  Forty-nine percent of respondents 
described themselves as devout adherents to their faith. 
Eighty two percent of respondents agreed that being a good 
Muslim and a good Spaniard were compatible, while three 
percent disagreed.  Sixty-seven percent believed that 
inter-religious marriages should be respected.  The aspects 
of the Spanish government most respected by respondents were 
liberty, the public welfare system, and respect for religious 
beliefs.  On a scale of 0-10 of how much respondents could 
trust various persons and institutions, Muslim immigrants in 
Spain gave the United States a 2.9, compared with 5.2 for the 
UN, 5.4 for the Arab League, and 6.0 for the EU. 
 
//THE SPIN// 
 
¶4. (U)  Justice Minister Mariano Fernandez-Bermejo, Interior 
Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, Secretary of State for 
Immigration Consuelo Rumi, and Metroscopia President Jose 
Juan Toharia held a press conference December 11 to announce 
 
MADRID 00002238  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
the results.  Although the percentage of the Muslim immigrant 
population eligible to vote in the March 2008 national 
elections is very small, GOS leaders underscored the role of 
the PSOE government in achieving these results and emphasized 
that more would be done in a future Zapatero government. 
Riay Tatary, head of the Union of Spanish Islamic Communities 
(UCIDE), Spain's largest Islamic organization, sat in the 
front row of the standing-room only event.  Other notable 
attendees included Felix Herrero, the embattled head of the 
Spanish Federation of Islamic Religious Entities (FEERI), and 
Mouneir Mahmoud Aly El-Messery, the imam of Madrid's M-30 
mosque. 
 
¶5. (U)  Consuelo Rumi, Secretary of State for Immigration and 
Emigration, described the results of the study as encouraging 
and took the opportunity to gloat that Spain had studied the 
failed models of France and Northern Europe and had adapted a 
more comprehensive and basic approach that focused on 
equality and pluralism.  Nevertheless, she said there was no 
room for self satisfaction  The Labor and Social Affairs 
Ministry will spend more than 1 billion euros in the next 
fiscal year on integration issues, not including efforts by 
other Ministries and Autonomous Communities, which represents 
an annual increase of over 300 million euros. 
 
¶6. (U)  Justice Minister Fernandez Bermejo described the 
numbers as "highly encouraging" and said they reflected "a 
Spanish society that is open, mature and capable of 
respecting all."  Interior Minister Rubalcaba said that the 
2007 survey did not so much reveal new information as provide 
an endorsement of the statistical accuracy of the 2006 
survey, which was encouraging to the GOS.  The GOS had high 
confidence in the accuracy of the results.  Rubalcaba said 
that the most revelatory aspect of the survey was that it 
indicated Muslim immigrants by and large share the same 
values as all Spaniards.  Rubalcaba said that the three 
Ministries work on integration issues constantly and enjoy 
excellent cooperation.  Rubalcaba also said that the three 
Ministries planned to continue conducting the annual survey 
with no foreseen end date. 
 
//CHALLENGES// 
 
¶8. (U)  Rumi stated that the principal challenge of the 
future would be ensuring that the second generation, those 
children who are already in Spanish schools and are Spanish 
citizens by birth, enjoy access to all of the equalities and 
rights of Spanish citizens.  There is no room for self 
satisfaction Rubalcaba echoed this sentiment and agreed that 
there was no room for complacency.  Rubalcaba noted that the 
challenge in other European nations has been to help the 
second and third generations to develop an identity that 
corresponds with both European and Islamic values.  He noted 
that second-generation children were Spanish citizens by 
birth, and he said, "They're already in the schools, some in 
high school.  They're Spanish, and they're going to demand 
their rights, with every justification, because they are 
citizens.  That is the challenge.8   Fernandez Bermejo 
acknowledged that the study had not reached every Muslim 
community, and he said identified one of the government's 
main challenges as bringing clandestine and/or reclusive 
immigrants into the Spanish mainstream. He also emphasized 
the additional challenges of providing sufficient land and 
zoning for new places of worship, vetting and training of 
imams, and providing prisoners with access to religious 
services and ministry. 
 
¶9. (U)  Metroscopia's Toharia fielded a question about a 
recent study released by the European Network Against Racism 
that described Spaniards as increasingly racist and 
xenophobic.  He said that polling data and studies did reveal 
a clear disconnect between Spaniards' opinions of immigrants, 
particularly North African immigrants, and those immigrants' 
opinion of Spain.  Rubalcaba added that the value of a study 
such as this was that it could serve to show Spaniards that 
Muslim immigrants wanted the same things and shared the same 
values as Spaniards.  Toharia also fielded a question about 
the percentages who chose the controversial or extremist 
response to certain questions about religion and violence, 
saying that the small percentage was not particularly 
alarming as it generally corresponded to the accepted small 
margin of any population that holds controversial views. 
 
//REALITY// 
 
 
MADRID 00002238  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶10. (C)  The positive results of this survey certainly 
suggest that the Muslim community is adapting well to life in 
Spain.  However, Spain remains in the sights of Al-Qa'ida and 
subsidiary terrorist organizations, and Spaniards' own 
xenophobic attitudes could reveal themselves more acutely in 
the midst of a likely economic downturn that could generate 
higher unemployment for Muslims in key sectors such as 
construction.  In meetings with various ministries, post's 
Muslim engagement working group has not had the impression 
that the several ministries work particularly well together 
as Rubalcaba claims, particularly in the realm of eduation, 
an issue which also experiences serious disconnects between 
national and regional governments.  Furthermore, while 
describing Spain as pluralist, tolerant, free, and caring, 
none of the leaders mentioned the fact that the average 
Muslim immigrant will not be able to gain the right to vote 
until at least the 2012 national elections and possibly until 
2016, thanks to a citizenship system clearly biased toward 
European and Latin American immigrants.  Emboffs have made 
this point privately to GOS officials, one of whom recently 
told us that if Zapatero wins reelection in March 2008, the 
next PSOE government could relax either citizenship or voting 
requirements to capitalize on the increasingly numerous 
immigrant electorate (Muslims represent close to two percent 
of the overall Spanish population, while overall immigrants 
represent at least 10 percent).  The Partido Popular has thus 
far failed to elaborate an immigration policy that would win 
popular support (immigrant and native Spanish); thus, the net 
impact is that an empowered immigrant electorate could 
provide a semi-permanent boost for the Socialists against the 
rapidly aging PP base.  Nevertheless, the Spanish political 
system still remains largely inaccessible to Muslim 
immigrants. 
AGUIRRE