On March 28, 2007, Ellen Sauerbrey, Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, received a letter signed by 19 EU politicians urging her to withdraw from this year’s World Congress on Families, to be held in Warsaw, May 11–13. The politicians cited the supposedly "extremist and intolerant views held by some participants and attendees" as reasons why she should stay away, going on to attack Population Research Institute and its President, Steven W. Mosher, by name.
The EU parliamentarians took issue with PRI and Mosher for speaking openly of Europe’s demographic decline, and wrongly assert that PRI "claims that Muslims are to blame." They quote, as an example of this so-called "extremism," a statement from PRI’s website: "These immigrants, particularly Muslim ones in Europe, are too many and too culturally different from their new countries’ populations to assimilate quickly, and they are contributing to the cultural suicide of these nations as they commit demographic suicide."
"We stand by our statement that Europe is facing demographic catastrophe," says Mosher. "Anyone looking at the falling birthrate in countries from Ireland to Russia cannot help but conclude that present-day Europeans are committing a kind of national suicide." The passage quoted by the EU politicians does not blame Muslims as such for Europe’s demographic collapse, Mosher points out. "Europe’s decline is obviously not caused by Muslim immigration," Mosher said. "Rather, high rates of Muslim immigration are a consequence of Europe’s decline. The workers have to come from somewhere. And since they come from a very different culture, they will obviously be harder to assimilate."
Assistant Secretary Sauerbrey’s appearance at the Congress will help Europe face up to the grim realities of demographic decline, Mosher said. "We welcome the wrong-headed and probably barren politicians who signed this misleading letter to join us at the conference," he added. "They might learn something."
The World Congress of Families convenes on May 11–13, 2007 at the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, Poland. For more information, visit www.worldcongress.org.
