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Law on Churches and Religion in the European Legal Area – Through German Glasses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

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Approximately ten to fifteen years ago the “danger of Europeanization” of the German law on churches and religion was hotly debated. The churches in Germany feared that the influence of the European Union would dramatically change their legal framework. But also academic writers worried about the influence of the common market law or European antidiscrimination law on the legal situation of the churches in the member states – sometimes in rather shrill tone. One almost got the impression that Brussels replaced the Marxist Ideologiekritik (critique of ideology) as the main enemy of Christianity in Europe.

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Copyright © 2007 by German Law Journal GbR 

References

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27 Heinig (supra, note 4), 421; the effects of the principle of subsidiarity can also work directly against the interests of churches, as for example when the ECJ (properly) strikes down limitations on Sunday working hours in the directive on work times due to a violation of the principle of subsidiarity (ECJ, ECR 1996-I, 5755 [5805]; see also Heinig, , [supra, note 4], 487; Walter [supra, note 4], 23).Google Scholar

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