European bishops have urged the European Union to provide adequate funds and staff and a clear mandate to its new Special Envoy for Promotion of Freedom of Religion and Belief, 75-year-old senior Belgian diplomat Frans van Daele.
The special envoy post, created in 2016 and specifically mandated to cover cases “outside the European Union”, has highlighted cases of abusive blasphemy laws, forced conversions and killing of leaders and members of religious minorities around the world.
But it has been hampered by disagreements over its mandate and two periods of vacancy at the top.
Slovak politician Ján Figel was special envoy from 2016 to 2019. It took 10 months before his successor, Christos Stylianides, was named and he served only five months before leaving for a post in the Greek government.
Former Italian defence minister Mario Mauro was rumoured to replace him in mid-2022 but this was never confirmed.
"We … reiterate our call to the European Commission to provide the new EU Special Envoy with adequate resources, and a well-defined mandate, that will enable Mr van Daele to … protect and promote Freedom of Religion, a fundamental right that is under threat in many parts of the world,” COMECE head Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich said.
The European Parliament’s Intergroup for Freedom of Religion or Belief and Religious Tolerance went further.
“By stalling the process of mandating a special envoy for religious freedom for almost three years, the Commission has shown that this topic has not had much priority for them,” said co-chair Peter van Dalen of the European People’s Party.
“That is highly regrettable, as the space for religious freedom is shrinking in many places around the world,” the Dutch-born MEP said.
The European Parliament has bemoaned these shortcomings in several resolutions. The latest, in May 2022, stressed the special envoy should work together with EU human rights officials.
As Mauro’s appointment was delayed, a group of MEPs sent a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in September warning that the religious freedom post would effectively expire if no new special envoy were named soon.
“We fear that no new appointment will lead to the de facto abolishment of this post in general. That would be a great mistake,” they said.
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