European Union, populism and religious minorities: complex entanglements

ABSTRACT

Research shows that, overall, the EU has a positive impact on the respect of religious diversity in the multi-level European system and that religious minorities have a positive attitude toward the EU. This positive, albeit limited, impact may be endangered by the rise of the right-wing populist discourse which, as many scholars have shown, targets minorities, and religious minorities in particular. The purpose of this article is to explore the role that populism plays in the EU-orientation of religious groups. Drawing on the case study of Italy, the analysis shows that the majority of religious groups take a stance against populism and promote inter-religious solidarity, and that while most religious groups perceive that the EU has a positive role to play, their action is specially oriented at the local level.

KEYWORDS:

• European Union
• populism
• religion
• Italy

Acknowledgments

The research was supported by the European Research Council (ERC) under Grant 338463, grant recipient Dr. Effie Fokas. The author wishes to thank, for their comments to the earlier versions of the manuscript, Rosa Sanchez-Salgado, Carlo Ruzza, Tommaso Vitale.

Notes

1 See the Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the role and contribution of civil society organisations in the building of Europe, OJ C 329 of 17.11.1999. Url: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:51999IE0851&rid=10

2 See for example: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/13/steve-bannon-matteo-salvini-pope-francis-is-the-enemy; https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/08/09/pope-francis-again-warns-against-nationalism-says-recent-speeches-sound-like-hitler; https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/29/matteo-salvini-italy-league-party-master-campaigner-counts-cost-of-strategic-errors

3 FBOs stand for Faith Based Organisations, which include religious institutions and communities – see Haynes 2019 for a discussion.

4 Grant no 338463.

5 Namely: the Union of Waldensian and Methodist Churches, God’s Assemblies in Italy (a Pentecostal Church), the Christian Churches of the Seventh-day Adventists, the Union of the Jewish Communities, the Christian Evangelical-Baptist Union, the Lutheran Church, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy and Exarchate of Southern Europe, the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints, the Apostolic Church in Italy, the Italian Buddhist Union, the Italian Hindu Union and the Italian Buddhist Institution of Soka Gakkai.

Additional information

Funding

The research was supported by the H2020-European Research Council (ERC) under Grant 338463, grant recipient Dr. Effie Fokas.