EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 88/217

(2004/C 88 E/0224)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0779/04

by Maurizio Turco (NI) to the Commission

(11 March 2004)

Subject: Violation of religious freedom in Poland

In view of the following:

— Article 6 of the EU Treaty;

— Articles 10 and 22 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU concerning religious freedom and cultural and religious diversity;

— the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 1950 (in particular Article 9);

— the International Religious Freedom Report for 2003 issued by the US Department of State;

— the Commission's report of 19 February 2003 on the application for accession to the EU submitted by the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia;

— the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council ‘The Commission's Legislative and Work Programme for 2004’ of 29 October 2003 (1);

— the Copenhagen political criteria regarding the right to religious freedom;

and the fact that:

— in Poland Orthodox clerics have reported instances of discrimination against their community;

— there are reports of less than proportional funding for cultural events associated with the Orthodox community;

— there have been cases of layoffs in which Orthodox employees were the first to lose their jobs, and according to the local press true citizenship depends on being Catholic:

Poland is one of the countries due to join the EU on 1 May 2004:

— can the Commission say whether it is fully aware of all these facts and, if so, what view it takes of them;

— since religious freedom and freedom of association are among the priority issues for the Union and since the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council ‘The Commission's Legislative and Work Programme for 2004’ of 29 October 2003 states that the legal obligations of the European Union and the new Member States vis-à-vis the ‘acquis communautaire’ must be fulfilled from the first day of accession, can the Commission say whether it intends to inform the authorities of these countries of its intentions to this effect? In other words, how will the Commission ensure that these countries comply with the ‘acquis’ from the first day of their membership of the EU if at the same time there is an infringement of the very rights respect for which is strictly necessary for their accession;

— since the political criteria laid down in the Commission's report of 19 February 2003 require the applicant States to ensure the stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities, does the Commission not consider the facts mentioned above as an obstacle in the context of these countries' accession to the EU and hence contrary to the acquis, and that the countries where these events have occurred are totally failing to comply with the criteria;

— will the Commission consider using all the means at its disposal to put an end to this infringement of religious freedom and freedom of worship?

Joint answer

to Written Questions E-0774/04, E-0777/04, E-0778/04 and E-0779/04

given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(30 April 2004)

The Commission attaches considerable importance to the issues raised by the Honourable Member in these four questions regarding violation of religious freedom in new Member States.

Respect of religious freedom is covered by the political criteria for membership of the European Union, as established by the Copenhagen European Council in 1993. Since its 1997 Opinions on the applications for membership, the Commission has monitored and evaluated annually in its Regular Reports the progress made by Acceding States towards meeting the Copenhagen criteria, including religious freedom. These reports confirmed that the countries continued to fulfil the Copenhagen political criteria although further efforts were still needed in certain areas.

Against this background, accession negotiations with ten Acceding States were concluded in December 2002. Following approval by the Parliament, the Accession Treaty was signed in April 2003 and since then ratified by all countries.

In particular it should be noted that, under the Accession Treaty, all acceding States must implement by 1 May 2004 Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation (2), which prohibits discrimination in employment and training on the grounds of, ‘inter alia’, religion or belief.

The Commission would remind the Honourable Member that there exists neither a Community competence nor specific Community law requirements on how to treat religious communities. This is in line with Declaration No 11 of the Treaty of Amsterdam. As a consequence, EU governments maintain a discretionary power on issues such as recognition, registration requirements or public funding of religious communities, as long as fundamental rights as general principles of Community law (Article 6 (2) TEU), applying to any action by a Member State in the ambit of Community law, are respected. The Commission controls respect of these principles and will, in case of suspected infringements, use all the means at its disposal to put an end to them.

As regards the points raised by the Honourable Member in respect of specific new Member States, the Commission has the following observations:

— On Poland, the Commission takes note of the remarks related to the treatment of the Polish Orthodox church. Cases of individual or collective discrimination may be submitted to the Commission after accession and will be examined against the background of the above-mentioned legal rules and principles.

— Concerning Lithuania, the Commission is aware of the agreement between Lithuania and the Holy See on co-operation in the field of education and culture. This agreement, signed on 5 May 2000, is a legally binding international agreement. According to this agreement, students who have chosen a course in Catholic religion are taught by teachers of that religion. The qualification of a teacher of the Catholic religion is awarded according to the procedure established by the legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania with due regard to the norms laid down by the Conference of Lithuanian Bishops. Teachers of the Catholic religion must have a qualifying certificate (missio canonica) for teaching Catholic religion, issued by the local bishop. This requirement is applied only for teachers of the Catholic religion and has therefore no significance with teaching religion in general to students of other denominations. In light of these elements, the Commission considers that freedom of religion and worship is fully respected in Lithuania and it does not intend to undertake any measures in that field.

— With regard to Hungary, the Constitution establishes the Hungarian State as religiously neutral; church and state are separated. Hungarian citizens are entitled to practice their faith freely. Any church can be officially registered provided that it collects the signatures of at least 100 believers. There is no requirement nor control on substance by the Registry Court, beyond the declaration by the Church that its aims do not contradict the Hungarian Constitution. The Hungarian State grants financial benefits to churches based on their size and their provision of public services. The four biggest churches in 2001, are the Catholic, Lutheran and Calvinist churches and the Jewish Community. The legislation that lists these four churches as ‘historic churches’ is the 1994 Government Decree on Military Chaplain Service (61/1994). The decree assures the right of all soldiers to receive the religious service of their choice from any registered church. The Constitutional Court ruled that this decree does not violate religious freedom (ruling 970/B/1994). According to the Public Education Law (79/1993), all registered Hungarian churches have the right to open schools. The Hungarian authorities have no right to deny permission provided that the school fulfils all the general criteria (education, health, safety, …) described by law.

— Concerning Cyprus, the Commission is not aware that members of Jehovah's Witnesses are encountering difficulties in being recognised as conscientious objectors. No complaint in this respect has been brought to the Commission's attention. Regarding the situation in the Northern part of the island and at the crossing points, it should be noted that the Government of the Republic of Cyprus does not exercise effective control in these areas. According to Article 1, Paragraph 1 of Protocol No 10 of the Act of Accession 2003 the ‘acquis’ will be suspended in these areas pending a settlement. The Commission cannot confirm that there is a reference in the 1960 Constitution allowing for Evkaf special provisions. As regards slowness of procedures at the checkpoints, it should be noted that there are only four checkpoints for crossing. Consequently some delays occurred in waiting times prior to crossing when there were high volumes wanting to cross in the immediate aftermath of the opening of the demarcation line to crossing by private persons, in particular on public holidays and weekends. The Commission does not see any connection with the freedom of religion or an ill-will of the respective authorities. In the meantime there are scarcely any major delays in crossing.

(1) COM(2003) 645 final.

(2) OJ L 103, 2.12.2000.