Article by Jean Claude Boual
While not secular, the European Communities were not concerned with relations between institutions and religions. Neither the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1952 nor the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) in Rome in 1957 addressed this issue. As these were international treaties dealing with economic relations, this was logical: relations between the state and the churches were the sole responsibility of the Member States.
The institutionalisation of churches in European Union texts.
The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TEU) of Lisbon, in force since December 2009, provides in Article 17 for dialogue between the EU institutions and churches and philosophical and non-confessional organisations:
Article 17
1. The Union respects and does not prejudice the status under national law of churches and
religious associations or communities in the Member States.
2. The Union equally respects the status under national law of philosophical and non-confessional
organisations.
3. Recognising their identity and their specific contribution, the Union shall maintain an open,
transparent and regular dialogue with these churches and organisations.
This dialogue is referred to in Community jargon as the “Article 17 dialogue”.
This article is the result of a long process in the construction of the European Union. The Christian Democratic political movement has played a decisive role in European integration since its inception. Very early on, leading figures from this movement organised themselves within the institutions of the European Communities and played a decisive political role, but the original treaties (ECSC and EEC) say nothing about relations between the churches and the institutions. This was a matter for the Member States alone.
However, the Treaty of Accession of Greece to the European Communities in 1981 recognised the specific provisions of Mount Athos included in the Greek Constitution (Article 105). Greece had made this a condition of its accession, and the nine Member States of the EEC at the time, wishing to consolidate democracy in Greece, which was emerging from a harsh military dictatorship, accepted.
The Maastricht Treaty of 1992 created the European Union with political prerogatives extending beyond economic issues alone, even though the latter remain dominant. In particular, it created European citizenship, referred to and respected the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and created the beginnings of an EU foreign policy.
This ‘politicisation’ broadened the scope of the EU. Declaration No. 11 annexed to the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997 states: ‘Declaration on the status of churches and non-confessional organisations – The European Union respects and does not prejudice the status under national law of churches and religious associations or communities in the Member States. The European Union also respects the status of philosophical and non-confessional organisations.”
The institutional offensive by religions to obtain recognition in the fundamental texts of the European Union, in order to gain institutional recognition and influence Community policies, intensified with the two Conventions which drafted, on the one hand, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU in 2000 and the other, the draft “EU Constitution” in 2002/2003, which was rejected following negative referendums in France and the Netherlands in 2005.[1]
For the Charter, the debate focused on the introduction of “Europe’s Christian roots” in the preamble, at the request of representatives from Germany in particular. The final wording of the preamble is: “its spiritual and moral heritage“, except for Germany, for which it is: “geistig-religiösen und sittlichen”, or “spiritual-religious”.
For the draft Constitution, the presence of God in the Constitution was one of the recurring and most debated topics. Finally, on the basis of the Declaration annexed to the Treaty of Amsterdam, Article 51 stipulates: “Article 51: Status of churches and non-confessional organisations. 1. The Union respects and does not prejudice the status under national law of churches and religious associations or communities in the Member States. 2. The Union also respects the status of philosophical and non-confessional organisations. 3. Recognising their identity and their specific contribution, the Union shall maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with these churches and organisations”[2] , was adopted. It will be reproduced in full in Article 17 of the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009. This dialogue will be gradually established from 2010 onwards.
Article 17 dialogue with the European Commission
In 2013, the European Commission published a text entitled: “EU Guidelines on the Promotion and Protection of Freedom of Religion or Belief“. The first sentence of the introduction reads as follows: “The right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief, more commonly referred to as ‘the right to freedom of religion or belief’, places the issue directly under Anglo-Saxon ideological influence and disregards the spirit and letter of the Community texts themselves, in particular Article 10 of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, which states: ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion…‘. The difference arises from the replacement of an “and” with a comma in the text of the guidelines, thus placing freedom of religion on the same level as freedom of thought or conscience, whereas in the Charter, in accordance with the Council of Europe’s Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, freedom of religion derives from freedom of thought and conscience. This semantic sleight of hand subsequently allows the Commission to deal only with freedom of religion, as demonstrated by all the paragraphs of the Guidelines. This can be seen from the titles of the chapters and paragraphs: “1- Definitions, Freedom of religion or belief is enshrined in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). ; Right to have a religion, to have a belief or not to believe; Right to manifest one’s religion or belief. 2- Operational guidelines; A Fundamental principles; 1. Universal nature of freedom of religion or belief; 2. Freedom of religion or belief is an individual right that can be exercised in community with others; 3. The essential role of States in guaranteeing freedom of religion or belief; 4. Link with the defence of other human rights and with other EU human rights guidelines,” etc. There is no mention of freedom of thought or conscience, only freedom of religion and belief. These Guidelines were adopted by the Foreign Affairs Council, i.e. by the governments of the Member States, on 24 June 2013.
The initiatives of the Commission, but also of the Parliament under Article 17 TFEU, relate, in accordance with these guidelines, only to freedom of religion and belief, and even then, only as an obligation, but not to freedom of conscience or thought.
Article 17 dialogue with Parliament
In 2014, the European Parliament created the “EP Intergroup on Freedom of Religion or Belief and Religious Tolerance”. This intergroup presents itself on its website: “The Intergroup on Freedom of Religion or Belief and Religious Tolerance aims to ensure that the EU, in its external actions, promotes and protects the right of individuals to freely express their beliefs (theistic, non-theistic and atheistic). The Intergroup on Freedom of Religion or Belief and Religious Tolerance does not examine the merits of different religions or beliefs, or the absence thereof, but ensures that the right to believe or not to believe is respected. The Intergroup on Freedom of Religion or Belief and Religious Tolerance is impartial and does not align itself with any specific religion or belief”. In the English text, the term used is naturally “belief“, which inevitably creates ambiguity, as it only refers to religious beliefs. We can see that atheists, agnostics and those who are indifferent, who nevertheless make up the majority of the population in several countries, are only mentioned in passing. There is no mention of non-religious beliefs or freedom of thought or conscience in this presentation.
It took several “Article 17” meetings to obtain a session devoted to discrimination against atheists around the world and within the EU, which demonstrated that the issue was not secondary. This came as a great surprise to the institution, but eventually without any action taken. In March 2019, at the end of the legislative term, Mairead Mac Guiness, Vice-President of the European Parliament, responsible for dialogue under Article 17, an Irish Catholic, published a report proposing privileged access to the Parliament for religious figures. Following protests from non-denominational organisations and MEPs, the then President of the Parliament, Antonio Tajani, gave assurances that no administrative measures would be taken in this regard before the next legislative term. This initiative was not officially followed up.
For several legislative terms, a “Holy Catholic Mass” has been celebrated at the opening of Parliament sessions. In June 2019, after the European Parliament elections, each elected representative received an invitation informing them that “A Holy Catholic Mass will be celebrated on Wednesday 3 July 2019 in the meditation room at 8.30 a.m. It will take place every Wednesday during plenary sessions in Strasbourg. These Masses will be organised with the Archdiocese of Strasbourg. All colleagues are cordially invited.”
Lobbying by churches and religions
As early as 1956, Catholics, under the impetus of the Jesuits, began to organise themselves within the European institutions. The Catholic Office for Europe (OCIPE) was created within the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. In 1980, the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE) took over and broadened its scope to include the Economic Community. Today, it is the Catholic Church’s main lobbying tool within the European institutions. In 1988, John Paul II was invited to address the European Parliament, where he emphasised “the religious and Christian foundations of this continent”. In 1989, the Holy See appointed an apostolic nuncio to the European Communities, thereby formalising relations between the Vatican and the EU. In 1994, Jacques Delors, President of the European Commission, launched the “A Soul for Europe” initiative, establishing the first formal contacts between the EU institutions and the religions. In addition, the Catholic movement exerts considerable influence on the EU institutions through its charitable networks in European civil society.
Protestant ‘churches’ are organised on a national basis. It is therefore more difficult to generate a common European project between ‘churches’ organised on this basis, which are also highly diverse, even within the same country. Also, due to the reluctance of these churches to engage in the process of European integration, “a group of politicians claiming to be Protestant and committed to European integration” took the lead and created the “European Ecumenical Association for Church and Society” (EACS) in 1973. Then, as social issues became more pressing (the fight against poverty, homelessness, gender equality, etc.), particularly after the Single European Act, the beginnings of a European civil society emerged. Charitable organisations, most often of religious origin, organised themselves at European level, either by joining forces to gain access to the institutions, or directly when they had the means to do so. For example, the German Protestant organisation Diakonisches Werk (EKD) has a strong presence in Brussels. In addition, the Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox Churches have come together in the Conference of European Churches (CEC).
The Orthodox Churches have several representative structures, including the autocephalous national Church of Greece with the Russian Orthodox Church (before the war in Ukraine) and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
The European Conference of Rabbis represents the Jewish religion. It is accompanied by more political structures aimed at improving relations between Europe and the State of Israel, such as the European Jewish Congress or, more recently, the Lubavitch Office Foundation. Following Brexit, it has just left its historic headquarters in London to move to Munich, thus demonstrating its desire to remain within the European Union.
The Muslim organisation is more recent. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) formalised a permanent observation mission to the European Union in June 2013 and, more recently, the Collective Against Islamophobia in Europe (CCIE), established in Belgium in November 2020, took over from the Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF), which dissolved itself in the same year after coming under scrutiny from the French government. Among its projects is “the establishment of a team dedicated to dialogue with European institutions”.
All these organisations lobby European institutions and seek to influence EU policies, particularly on issues relating to poverty reduction and social and societal issues. All of them are currently involved in the “Article 17 dialogue”, notably with the European Parliament.
Article by Jean-Claude Boual.
Trade unionist, secularist activist, deputy secretary-general of the Egale association, and a key player within European institutions, Jean-Claude Boual is the author of “La laïcité en Europe. Un combat d’actualité pour une idée neuve” (Secularism in Europe: A topical battle for a new idea) (Editions L’Harmattan, Débats laïques collection).
[1]For further details, see Jean Claude Boual: “Laïcité en Europe, un combat d’actualité pour une idée neuve” (Secularism in Europe, a current struggle for a new idea), Editions L’Harmattan, 2024.
[2]Emphasis added.
