A tax on mosques in Germany has been suggested by politicians as a means to cut off foreign funding.

Alexander Radwan, member of the Merkel-allied Christian Social Party (CSU), has called for the so-called "church tax" to be applied to Muslims in Germany.

"If you stop foreign funding of mosques, of course you have to provide sufficient funding here in Germany," said Radwan, a member of the European Parliament for Bavaria, in the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

He added this could be done in a similar manner to the "existing church tax for Catholics and Protestants".

In Germany members of churches have to pay a tax on top of their total income tax to fund church activities.

The recommendation comes a week after Andreas Scheuer, the general secretary of the Christian Social Union (CSU), spoke of the need to promote a European kind of Islam through barring overseas funding of mosques.

Among others suggestions he told Die Welt daily that "German must become the language of the mosques".

He said: "We cannot tolerate a situation in which extremist views are imported from abroad... Europe must cultivate its own Islam."

A so-called "Islam law" would mean money for mosques from countries such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia would be curbed.

"All imams need to be trained in Germany and share our core values," said Scheuer.

"Those who are not integrated cannot stay here. We must put an end to this integration romance. Multiculturalism has failed. Those who are not integrated, must expect departure [from Germany]," he added.

The CSU is the Bavarian ally to the German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Party.