In
Moskeeën v. Gewest, (ECJ Adv. Gen., Nov. 30, 2017), the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice concluded in his recommendation to the court that Belgian authorities had not infringed the religious freedom of Muslims by ending the practice of creating temporary slaughterhouses to be used for Eid al-Adha. His opinion reads in part:
90. Inasmuch as it cannot, in my opinion, be held that any limitation of freedom of religion results from the general obligation to use approved slaughterhouses, the question of whether such a limitation is justified does not arise.
91. Nevertheless, in the event that the Court of Justice does not support that conclusion and considers that the obligation to use approved slaughterhouses, which alone is being challenged in this case, constitutes an interference with freedom of religion in that it prevents practising Muslims from fulfilling their religious obligation during the Feast of the Sacrifice, I am of the opinion that there would then be no legitimate objective in the public interest such as might justify the existence of a limitation of that freedom.
The Court issued a
press release summarizing the Opinion.
