EUABC A dictionary on words related to the EU

Religion

: Church in Denmark (Photo: Lis Lak Risager)

The Treaty of Nice and the Charter on Fundamental Rights forbid negative discrimination on grounds of political belief, sex, or religion (Art. 13 TEC and Art. 21 of the Charter). The exception is a special EU directive that allows discrimination when a church employs a priest (see Directive 2000/L 78/CE from 27 November 2000).

It is a matter for the EU Court in Luxembourg to determine the boundaries of illegal discrimination, and what is justified by religious or theological belief. This raises such issues as to the right of a religious school to sack a teacher who changes religion.
It also poses questions such as:

Is the Danish State acting illegally by supporting the Danish State Church and discriminating against other churches?
May abortion be forbidden on religious grounds, and the EU legal right of freedom to supply abortion services be restricted, even though a country has no special treaty protocol like those negotiated by Ireland and Malta?

Future

It has been proposed to include religion as one of the Union´s values into the original EU Constitution. However, this was refused by the Convention Praesidium. The (preamble of the) revised EU Constitution - the Lisbon Treaty - now states that the Union shall also draw inspiration from ".... the religious inheritance of Europe… ". Furthermore, it includes a new commitment of the Union – its dialogue with churches (art. 17 TFEU).

The Charter of Fundamental Rights forbid religeous discrimination in Art. 21 and 22. The Charter is made legally binding by Art. 6 TEU.

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