Abstract
Recently, controversial issue of the role of Christianity in the formation of European identity has made an important comeback to European public agenda. It is recognised as a basis of law in the European Union’s (EU) constitutional order through the notion such as pluralism, balance and inheritance. It makes the EU’s search for a dialogue with a majority of Muslim countries in the Middle-East and North Africa (MENA) rather interesting policy preference. This article examines how the notion of European secularism has been reflected upon European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) regarding the freedom of religion and belief. Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan are chosen as three country cases to observe EU’s position on religious freedom—the major concept of its secular rationale. Analysis of the official documents in regard to EU and revealing requirements and technical/financial support of the ENP for freedom of religion or belief can result in evaluating possible outcomes of whether religion really matters for the EU under the ENP dialogue.
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Notes
- 1.
The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) is an intergovernmental institution bringing together the 28 European Union Member States and 15 countries from the Southern and Eastern shores of the Mediterranean to promote dialogue and cooperation. It is chaired by a co-presidency shared between the two shores. Since 2012, UfM is assumed by the European Union on the Northern side, ensuring a close link with the ENP, and by Jordan on the Southern side, allowing its full appropriation by the Southern countries. The co-presidency applies to all levels: summits, ministerial meetings and official-level meetings. More details are available on www.ufmsecretariat.org.
- 2.
Jordan year reports of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International highly critical on Jordanian Press and Publications Law and actions of the Audiovisual Commission in terms of freedom of expression. Details are available on https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2018/country-chapters/jordan and https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/jordan/report-jordan/.
- 3.
The last amendment of Lebanon Constitution was made by Charter of Lebanese National Reconciliation in 1989. According to the agreement which brought 15 years of civil war to an end, Muslims and Christians are represented on a 50:50 basis in the Parliament, in the Council of Ministers as well as in all high-ranking civilian and military posts: Alawi, Druze, Shia and Sunni within the Muslim community, and Armenian Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Greek Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Maronites and Protestants within the Christian community.
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Kirik, H., Sönmez, P. (2020). Does Religion Matter? In Search of a Secular Rationale of the EU Neighbourhood Policy: Cases of Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan. In: Ünsar, S., Ünal Eriş, Ö. (eds) Revisiting Secularism in Theory and Practice. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37456-3_9
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