Churches

: Church in Malta (Photo: Lisbeth Kirk)

Churches

The Conference of European Churches (CEC) has 123 member churches and negotiates on various topics with the Commission.

The involvement of the churches in the EU goes back to Jacques Delors’ project, "Give Europe a Soul".

In a non-binding declaration to the Treaty of Amsterdam it stated that the EU respects national churches.

The Lisbon Treaty repeats the statement about respect for national churches and includes a new commitment of the Union – its dialogue with churches, see Lisbon Treaty Article 17.3 TFEU.

Furthermore, the preamble of the Lisbon Treaty now states that the Union shall also draw inspiration from ".... the religious inheritance of Europe… "

By including the churches in the treaties, it is up to the European Court in Luxembourg to decide on conflicts of interpretation regarding what these references mean.

There have been no plans to establish a Council of Ministers for religion and religious affairs, even if it is now legally possible.

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