EU foreign policy needs to include religious freedom as a central plank, according to a leading Member of the European Parliament.

Speaking at a conference organised by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) and the Evangelical Church in Germany, Othmar Karas MEP said EU foreign policy must take account of religious freedom issues.

Mr Karas, Vice-Chairman of the European People’s Party (EPP) Group responsible for Inter-religious activities, said: “Non-discrimination is universal. Freedom of religion and non-discrimination go hand in hand.

“Religions are an important part of the European identity and therefore inter-religious dialogue is crucial for political and European consciousness. Religious freedom must be incorporated in the EU’s foreign policy.

“It must be part of our external policy and internal policy. For instance, we must focus on this issue not only in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, but there are also links to the Employment Committee. The policy area of relgious freedom must be integrated in all our actions.”

His remarks came a week after a Written Declaration was issued by Mario Mauro of the European People’s Party (EPP) and Konrad Szymanski MEP of the European Conservative and Reformist Group (ECR) calling on the Commission to add a binding clause on respect for religious freedom to agreements with non-EU States.

Meanwhile, Bishop László T?kés MEP said: “Our decent life in peace, security and freedom can only be realised through acknowledging and respecting the human dignity and rights of others, their freedom of conscience and religion.

“All over the world, Christians are victim of oppression and persecution, but also other religious minorities, Hindus, Buddhists etc, suffer similar atrocities in other parts of the world.”

Violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief take place all over the world and it affects an estimated 100 million Christians every year.

According to Open Doors International, in 2010, the top ten list of countries where Christians are most persecuted because of their faith, consists of North-Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Maldives, Afghanistan, Yemen, Mauritania, Laos, and Uzbekistan.

Launching the Written Declaration last week, Mr Szyma?ski MEP (ECR) recalled that: “75 per cent of deaths linked to religion-based hate crimes affect people of the Christian faith, which makes Christians the most persecuted religious group in the world.

“Europe cannot remain indifferent. The EU must take co-responsibility for protecting religious freedom all over the world. Today, the mass suffering of Christians is still a crime that remains forgotten. We are here to remind the politicians of their responsibilities in this matter”.

Mario Mauro MEP (EPP Group) stressed that: ” Religious freedom is the condition through which all our other freedoms pass: freedom to express and profess the religion in which we believe means to escape the abuse of power.

“This is the reason why we need to insist on the defence of this principle and this is also why we initiated the Written Declaration in the defence of ‘freedom of religion'”.

The Memorandum recalls that “the right to religious freedom is so closely linked to the other fundamental rights that respect for religious freedom is like a ‘test’ for the observance of fundamental rights”.

It is expected that the declaration will be submitted to the European Parliament in the next few weeks. It will require signatures of 380 MEPs within three months to be adopted.