There should be increased dialogue between religious organisations and MEPs dealing with legislation proposed by the European Commission.
That’s according to a leaked report compiled by Fine Gael MEP and vice-president of the European Parliament Mairéad McGuinness.
“This would allow for individual partners to flag up dossiers where they feel they could make a particular contribution. The religious representatives expressed the view that such consultations would help ensure that policy considerations were not limited to narrow sectoral interests, but also took account of broader societal implications of policy and legislation and the need for the legislator to seek the common good,” the report states.
Ms McGuinness, who is vice-president of the European Parliament, insisted that the proposed changes would apply to “all stakeholders” and are “not limited to any one group, so there would not be different levels of access for churches compared to secular groups”.
However, MEPs who are part of the European Parliament Platform for Secularism in Politics expressed “deep concerns”, saying the report appears “to endorse” the views of the churches. Saying that the recommendations would be “a severe violation” of the principle of separation between religions and politics, if implemented, French MEP Virginie Rozière told OpenDemocracy that they are “completely crazy”.
