One of the legal questions that most animates the dialectic between the European Union (EU) and the Member States is the meaning and the regulatory consequences deriving from the principle expressed in Art. 17.1 TFEU, in the light of the EU’s respect for “national identities” (Art. 4.2 TEU).  Art. 17.1 provides that the “Union respects and does not prejudice the status under national law of churches and religious associations or communities in the Member States”. The interpretation of the statement, starting with the apparent hendiadys “respect and non-prejudice” still remains controversial.

The vagueness of this formulation reflects the complexity of the political and institutional reasons underlying its inclusion in the Treaties. On the one hand, in fact, there were those Member States that pushed for a “safeguard clause” against the EU’s potential interference in a sector of their exclusive sovereignty. On the other hand, some of the main religious denominations throughout Europe used their lobbying influence to preserve the favourable treatment reserved for them and their connected legal entities within the national legal systems.

 

Interpretations abound. For some, Art. 17.1 TFEU would remove from the scope of EU law the entire national discipline of the religious phenomenon, at least when this is considered in its multi-subjective organised manifestations. For others, the provision refers only to the “institutional” dimension of the phenomenon. Other scholars, finally, have suggested that a definition should be deduced from the “specificity” of the (national) legal sources examined so that the concept of status could descend from norms that are the result of prior negotiation with the representatives of religious denominations.

 

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) reconstructed the content of Article 17.1 TFEU in its preliminary ruling concerning the well-known Egenberger case (C-414/16). According to the Luxembourg judges, the clause “expresses the neutrality of the European Union towards the organisation by the Member States of their relations with churches and religious associations and communities”. The provision, however, would not remove from the scope of EU law, in a general and preventive manner, the activity of those legal entities. On the contrary, the interpreter would have to balance the different interests at stake, namely those enshrined in Article 17.1 TFEU, and the equal-order structural interests proper to the EU system.

Thus, the CJEU has been called upon to balance the interest in the respect for and non-prejudice of the religious organisations’ national status with the European rules against discrimination, particularly on the grounds of religion or belief (see Egenberger, C-414/16; Cresco, C-193/17). Elsewhere, the Court has balanced such interest against the right to privacy (see Jehovan Todistajat, C-25/17). Finally, the CJEU tested the compatibility of some national regulations with the principles of the EU’s internal market, holding that the economic activities carried out by civilly recognised religious bodies do not escape compliance with competition rules, in particular with the prohibition of State aid under Article 107 TFEU (see Congregación de Escuelas Pías Provincia Betania, C-74/16; Scuola Elementare Maria Montessori and Ferracci, joined cases C-622/16 to C-624/16).

 

This is, in a nutshell, the state of the art of the “safeguard clause” under Art. 17.1 T.F.E.U. Without aiming to be exhaustive, this Focus aims to provide a collection of the relevant case law, as well as an essential review of the wide bibliography on the subject.

 

(Focus by Andrea Cesarini)

 

Essential bibliography:

 

S. Berlingò, La condizione delle Chiese in Europa, in Il Diritto ecclesiastico, 2002, 32

 

F. Colombo, Interpreting Article 17 TFEU: New Openings towards a European Law and Religion System, in Stato, Chiese e pluralismo confessionale, 2020, 17

 

F. Croci, Interazioni tra principi (e tra fonti) nel diritto dell’Unione europea: la sentenza Egenberger e i successivi sviluppi, in Stato, Chiese e pluralismo confessionale, 2019, 86

 

G. Dalla Torre, Verso un diritto ecclesiastico europeo? Annotazioni preliminari sulla Costituzione, in Quaderni di diritto e politica ecclesiastica, 2005, 399

 

N. Doe, Towards a ‘Common Law’ on Religion in the European Union, in Religion, State and Society, 2009, 147

 

D. Durisotto, Unione europea, chiese e organizzazioni filosofiche non confessionali (art. 17 TFUE), in Stato, Chiese e pluralismo confessionale, 2016, 23

 

S. Ferrari, Integrazione Europea e prospettive di evoluzione della disciplina giuridica del fenomeno religioso, in V. Tozzi, ed, Integrazione europea e società multi-etnica. Nuove dimensioni della libertà religiosa, Turin, 2000, 131

 

C. Honorati, Art. 17 TFUE, in F. Pocar, M.C. Baruffi, eds, Commentario breve ai trattati dell’Unione europea, Padua, 2014, 198

 

A. Licastro, Unione europea e «status» delle confessioni religiose. Fra tutela dei diritti umani fondamentale e salvaguardia delle identità costituzionali, Milan, 2014

 

A. Licastro, A. Ruggeri, Diritto concordatario versus diritto eurounitario: a chi spetta la primauté? (a margine della pronunzia della Corte di Giustizia del 27 giugno 2017, C-74/16, in tema di agevolazioni fiscali per le “attività economiche” della Chiesa), in Stato, Chiese e pluralismo confessionale, 2017, 1

 

M. Lugato, L’Unione europea e le Chiese: l’art. 17 TFUE nella prospettiva del principio di attribuzione, del rispetto delle identità nazionali e della libertà religiosa, in Quaderni di diritto e politica ecclesiastica, 2014, 305

 

M. Lugli, J. Pasquali Cerioli, I. Pistolesi, Elementi di diritto ecclesiastico europeo, Turin, 2012

 

G. Macrì, Europa, lobbying e fenomeno religioso. Il ruolo dei gruppi religiosi nella nuova Europa politica, Turin, 2004

 

G. Macrì, M. Parisi, V. Tozzi, Diritto ecclesiastico europeo, Bari, 2006

 

F. Margiotta Broglio, M. Orlandi, sub Art. 17 TFUE, in A. Tizzano, ed, Trattati dell’Unione europea, Milan, 2014, 457

 

R. Mazzola, Confessioni, organizzazioni filosofiche e associazioni religiose nell’Unione Europea tra speranze disilluse e problemi emergenti, in Stato, Chiese e pluralismo confessionale, 2014, 1

 

M. Miccinesi, L’incidenza del diritto comunitario sulla fiscalità degli enti e delle confessioni religiose, in Stato, Chiese e pluralismo confessionale, 2010, 1

 

S. Montesano, Brevi riflessioni sull’art. 17 TFUE e sul progetto di Direttiva del Consiglio recante disposizioni in materia di divieto di discriminazione, in Stato, Chiese e pluralismo confessionale, 2015, 1

 

A. Morini, sub Art. 17 TFUE, in C. Curti Gialdino, ed, Codice dell’Unione europea operativo. TUE e TFUE commentati articolo per articolo con la Carta dei diritti fondamentali dell’Unione europea, Naples, 2012, 129

 

M. Parisi, Vita democratica e processi politici nella sfera pubblica europea. Sul nuovo ruolo istituzionale delle organizzazioni confessionali dopo il Trattato di Lisbona, in Stato, Chiese e pluralismo confessionale, 2013, 1

 

R. Puza, Effetti dell’ordinamento comunitario sullo status delle confessioni religiose nei paesi dell’Unione europea, in L. De Gregorio, ed, Le Confessioni religiose nel diritto dell’Unione europea, Bologna, 2012, 58

 

G. Robbers, An article on religious communities in European primary law, in Commission des Episcopats de la Communaté européenne, La construction européen et les institutions religieuses, Bruxelles, 1997, 66

 

M. Toscano, La decisione del Mediatore europeo del 25 gennaio 2013: un passo avanti verso un’applicazione efficace dell’art. 17 del Trattato sul funzionamento dell’Unione europea?, in Stato, Chiese e pluralismo confessionale, 2014, 1

 

M. Ventura, L’articolo 17 TFUE come fondamento del diritto e della politica ecclesiastica dell’Unione europea, in Quaderni di diritto e politica ecclesiastica, 2014, 293

 

Related case law:

 

Udo Steymann v. Staatssecretaris van Justitie, Case C-196/87, CJEU (Sixth Section), 5 October 1988

 

Association Eglise de Scientologie de Paris and Scientology International Reserves Trust v. The Prime Minister, Case C-54/99, CJEU, 14 March 2000

 

Congregación de Escuelas Pías Provincia Betania v. Ayuntamiento de Getafe, Case C-74/16, CJEU (Grand Chamber), 27 June 2017

 

Vera Egenberger v. Evangelisches Werk für Diakonie und Entwicklung eV, Case C-414/16, CJEU (Grand Chamber), 17 April 2018

 

Tietosuojavaltuutettu, Case C-25/17, CJEU (Grand Chamber), 10 July 2018

 

Scuola Elementare Maria Montessori Srl v. European Commission, European Commission v. Scuola Elementare Maria Montessori Srl and European Commission v. Pietro Ferracci, Case C-622/16 P to C-624/16 P, CJUE, 6 November 2018

 

Cresco Investigation GmbH v. Markus Achatzi, Case C–193/17, CJEU (Grand Chamber), 22 January 2019

 

YT and others v. Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca – MIUR, Case C-282/19 (Second Section), 13 January 2022

 

Freikirche der Siebenten-Tags-Adventisten in Deutschland KdöR v. Bildungsdirektion für Vorarlberg, Case C-372/21, CJEU (Third Section), 2 February 2023