Fundamental right or political value? The evolution of ‘freedom of religion or belief’ in the European Union’s legitimation and public action

ABSTRACT

In the last decade, freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) emerged as part of the European Union’s (EU) agenda in two ways: first, through attempts of its institutionalisation as a full-fledged diplomatic issue by the European External Action Service; and, second, as a bone of contention in EU internal affairs through its instrumentalization by national leaders, such as Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, who advocated for ‘Christian religious freedom’ as a rallying cry for identity politics. Our research question is twofold: whether FoRB has turned from a legal principle to a value likely to shape political conflicts; and to what extent the developments around FoRB in the realms of law and external affairs are connected to its uses in domestic EU politics. Using various qualitative methods (discourse analysis; interviews, media analysis) and drawing on a selection of relevant data (case-law, policy reports and recommendations) we trace the manifestations of FoRB across different policy sectors. Our findings suggest that no cross-cutting ‘politics of religious freedom’ is likely to appear in the EU. Looking at the broader picture, this article contributes to the scholarship on the interactions between politics and religion in the EU and on the latter’s quest of legitimation.

KEYWORDS:

• Religion and politics
• European Union
• secularism
• freedom of religion or belief

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

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2. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/02/19/british-attitudes-on-national-identity-and-religious-minorities-not-unique-in-eu/ (accessed 29 June 2020).

3. https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/eu-in-brief_en (accessed 29 June 2020).

4. For more on the two Court’s rulings around religious freedoms see: Fokas (2016), ‘Comparative Susceptibility and Differential Effects on the Two European Courts: A Study of Grasstops Mobilizations around Religion’, Oxford Journal of Law and Religion, Vol. 5, Issue 3; and, more recently Schorkopf, Frank; Uhle, Arnd; Wolf, Judith (Hg.) (2020), ‘Institutionen unter Druck. Europarechtliche Überformung des Staatskirchenrechts?’. Essener Gespräche zum Thema Staat und Kirche. Aschendorff Verlag.

5. https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng#{“documentcollectionid2”:[“GRANDCHAMBER”,”CHAMBER”]} (accessed June 29 2020).

6. https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/fre#{%22itemid%22:[%22001-115881%22]} (accessed May 222,021).

7. See https://religionanddiplomacy.org.uk (accessed August 212020).

8. These observations rely on a survey of EU delegations. More information in Foret (2017). ‘How the European External Action Service Deals with Religion through Religious Freedom’, EU Diplomacy Papers, College of Europe, 7/2017: https://www.coleurope.eu/fr/research-paper/how-european-external-action-service-deals-religion-through-religious-freedom.

9. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_16_1670 (accessed August 252,020).

10. ‘Mandate and work plan of the Special Envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the European Union’, Brussels, 26 September 2016. Internal document quoted in Foret, 2017, 20.

11. http://1ztp833emcflef7tm24jjqbe-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/International-Religious-Freedom-Roundtable-FORB-002-Copy.pdf (accessed June 202,020)

12. https://www.catholicireland.net/eu-continues-mandate-for-special-envoy-for-religious-freedom-after-campaigning/ (accessed September 252,020).

13. Information by an internal source at the European Commission under condition of anonymity, November 2020.

14. European Commission, « The European Commission appoints Special Envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the EU », press release, https://ec.europa.eu/cyprus/news/20210505_1_en

15. http://www.federicamogherini.net/presenting-the-new-global-exchange-on-religion-in-society/?lang=en (accessed June 112,020)

16. Speech by High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini at the launch of the initiative ‘Global Exchange on Religion in Society’.

17. European Council. 2008. “Framework Decision of 28 November 2008 on Combating Certain Forms and Expressions of Racism and Xenophobia by Means of Criminal Law.”

18. Katharina von Schnurbein, Speech at Informal meeting of the General Assembly of the UN, 26 June 2019.

19. https://ec.europa.eu/info/policies/justice-and-fundamental-rights/combatting-discrimination/racism-and-xenophobia/combating-anti-muslim-hatred_en#the-commissions-coordinator-on-combating-anti-muslim-hatred (accessed June 152,020).

20. https://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2017/second-european-union-minorities-and-discrimination-survey-muslims-selected; https://fra.europa.eu/en/databases/anti-muslim-hatred/ (accessed June 152,020).

21. See https://www.parismatch.com/Actu/Politique/MAM-et-Dati-en-croisade-pour-Asia-Bibi-658724 (accessed August 302,020).

22. https://www.la-croix.com/Urbi-et-Orbi/Actualite/Carnet/Asia-Bibi-nominee-Prix-Sakharov-2017-2017-09-26-1200879878 (accessed 21 August 2020)

23. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/04/world/europe/hungarian-leader-rebuked-for-saying-muslim-migrants-must-be-blocked-to-keep-europe-christian.html (accessed September 102,020)

24. https://dailynewshungary.com/orban-the-point-of-illiberal-politics-was-christian-freedom/ (accessed July 1 2020).

25. http://www.dignitatishumanae.com/index.php/home/ (accessed July 1 2020).

26. See ‘About the Institute’: http://www.dignitatishumanae.com/index.php/about-us/about-the-institute/ (accessed September 112,020).

27. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/hearings/commission/2004_comm/pdf/gen_buttiglione_fr.pdf (accessed June 152,020)

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FRS-FNRS) under Grant PDR/OL T.0252.18;Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS [PDR/OL T.0252.18.];