Ivan Camilleri, Brussels
Brussels distances itself from crucifixes ruling
Malta could retain religious symbols in all public places and the EU would not interfere in the matter, a Commission spokesman said yesterday.
"The EU has nothing to do with this ruling of the Court of Human Rights and we respect the liberty of every member state to decide on such issues. Religious symbols are not within the competence of the EU, so Malta can decide for itself how it wants to conduct its own affairs where it comes to religion matters," the spokesman said.
Tuesday's controversial ruling by the Council of Europe's Court of Human Rights, banning crucifixes from Italian public schools on grounds that they might offend non-Christian students, was raised during the Commission's daily press briefing in Brussels yesterday.
Distancing itself from the ruling of the Strasbourg-based court, the Commission said the EU had absolutely nothing to do with the decision and the issue surrounding religious symbols in public places was solely the competence of individual member states. The EU did not have any legislation on the matter.
Some news reports yesterday attributed the controversial ruling to the EU. However, the court in question forms part of the Council of Europe, which has absolutely nothing to do with the EU and is a separate international organisation.
The Commission spokesman said: "The European Union adopts the principle of subsidiary and its member states have complete competence over the presence of religious symbols in public places. The issue is not even covered by Community (EU) law. This applies across the board and it is not even an issue of discrimination. In fact, religious symbols are specifically excluded from anti-discrimination laws as we believe that this is something to be decided by member states".
Pressed to state the Commission's position on the ruling of the Human Rights Court, the Commission spokesman said that "the ruling has nothing to do with the EU and, thus, we have no comment to make".
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lgalea
Nov 5th 2009, 23:03
Joseph Camilleri
You didn't miss anything.
Alfred Grima
Nov 5th 2009, 18:55
So what would happen if the European Court of Justice decides otherwise when faced with a similar situation? Which ruling one need to follow?
Joseph Camilleri
Nov 5th 2009, 18:28
I wonder if somebody up-to-date with EU matters can enlighten me. According to the article, the EU spokesman said that the EU has nothing to do with the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights. But I have read somewhere that the ECHR is to become an integral part of the EU structures or amalgamated with the EU Court of Justice when the Lisbon treaty comes into effect, Now that all member states have ratified the Lisbon document, the treaty may become legally effective as early as next January. Am I correct or am I missing something?
Evarist Saliba
Nov 5th 2009, 15:59
The question on what may happen to Christmas, Easter, or indeed, Sunday, is very relevant. All these dates celebrate Christian events that have become embedded in our western culture (public and private), in the same way that Ramadan, Dawali and other religious feasts have become embedded in other cultures. Other persons may come along protesting that their rights are threatened in some way by legislation which acknowledges these feasts as public holidays.
The logical conclusion to the argument s of the European Court is that societies must become outwardly godless, thus imposing on all a culture espoused by a minority group within it.
Galea. L
Nov 5th 2009, 13:05
"What is going to happen to celebrations like Christmas, or Easter ? Do the same arguments apply here ?"
They do and that is why every decent Maltese Catholic should defy the foreign court and tell them where to shove their judgment. These celebrations have been part and shall continue to be part of our culture and traditions and no foreign court or Maltese atheists shall succeed in changing them.
David Seychell
Nov 5th 2009, 12:50
@Jesmond Micallef and Ramon Casha.
Students have weeks and weeks of holidays during Christmas and Easter. The parents of say a muslim student could argue that they don't want that their child is denied education for weeks in the name of Christianity. Should students already start kissing goodbye their beloved holidays?
Ramon Casha
Nov 5th 2009, 11:35
@Jesmond Micallef: Probably yes - the same arguments do apply to Christmas and Easter. That is, secular state schools would not be able to make their students participate in religious activities.
Note that the students themselves would be able to - by going to churches and organisations like our MUSEUM which, as many have been pointing out, are practically on every corner. So would the teachers. In fact, the teachers would be able to organise special Christmas or Easter activities for those of their students who want to attend. But not during school.
lgalea
Nov 5th 2009, 10:22
For how long?
Jesmond Micallef
Nov 5th 2009, 09:57
What is going to happen to celebrations like Christmas, or Easter ? Do the same arguments apply here ? May I humbly ask ?
The Academics behind such decisions are curious really., to say the least. I mean here one can argue whatever !! Right...........................
It seems to me that court decisions can be very very intriguing indeed. Just as an after-thought, but I mean people get let free after importing drugs for financial gain !!
May I put pictures of EUROs and a US DOLLARs on the wall and use them as a symbol of Faith ?? May I start praying to these GODS of this called "tolerative culture" !! After all religious people, wether Christian, Muslim, Budhist, etc etc share a common belief right :
"WHAT WOULD ONE DO WITHOUT MONEY"
OK - Here I go - AREN'T THESE COMMON GROUNDS OF BELIEF ?