The EU's Agency for Fundamental Rights has said there is a pressing need to co-operate in tackling widespread hatred against Muslims within the union.
Speaking in the wake of last week's terror attacks at two mosques in New Zealand, the agency's director, Michael O'Flaherty, said it has accumulated comprehensive evidence which points to worrying levels of hatred against Muslims across EU Member States.
Speaking on a video blog, the Irish-born director of the Vienna-based Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) expressed concern that hatred towards Muslims is a global phenomenon which is widespread in the EU.
He said the agency's own surveys, its online anti-Muslim hatred database, and its work with Muslim communities and Islamic leaders all point to what he calls "worrying levels of hatred against Muslims across EU Member States".
He says the agency's 2017 report on Muslims in the EU found that one in four Muslim respondents reported being harassed, often repeatedly.
It also showed that one in three Muslims said they were discriminated against, often because of their name.
The FRA research found that Muslim women who publicly wore a headscarf (hijab) or niqab were harassed more often than those who did not.
In 2017 the EU's Court of Justice ruled that workplaces had the legal right to ban women from wearing hijabs to work. But it limited the ban to companies which forbade the wearing of any "any political, philosophical or religious sign".
A niqab is a garment which covers the face and which is worn by a very small minority of Muslim women in the EU.
Along with other face-covering dress it has been banned in France in since 2010.
Officials there say that only about one thousand out of the country's five million Muslims wear face-covering garments.
Since 2004, the headscarf - which does not cover the face - has been banned in France's public schools - along with other conspicuous religious symbols. France has the largest population of Muslims in the EU.
Belgium, Austria and Denmark have also banned face-covering dress while earlier this year, the Netherlands introduced a partial ban in schools, hospitals, public transport and other "religous neutral" venues but not on the streets. It also applies to wearers of helmets or ski masks in similar settings.
Bulgaria also bans face-covering forms of dress.
In today's blog, Mr O'Flaherty said the FRA's 2017 findings revealed widespread recurring discrimination and hatred towards Muslims as they go about their everyday life.
But he added that the survey also pointed to greater trust among Muslims in democratic institutions than in the general public. Three out of four also felt strongly attached to their country of residence.
FRA's director underlined "the crucial need to engage and work with Muslim communities to identify how best to keep them safe" adding that it is also a duty of the state to protect people.
Mr O'Flaherty said it must also be acknowledged that hatred towards Muslims is not just their problem. "It is a societal problem that affects us all," he observed.
"At the same time, we must recognise that words of intolerance can stoke the fires of hate with tragic consequences, as we have recently seen.
"Finally, to truly understand and effectively tackle hate crime Europe must get much better at reporting, recording, investigating and prosecuting incidents of hate crime. And this applies all across Europe," Mr O'Flaherty said.
