This paper argues that while the CJEU cases of Achbita and Bougnaoui create some consistency with the case law of the ECHR on freedom of religion or belief in employment, they nonetheless represent a missed opportunity to develop the EU law on religious discrimination in a way that serves both the equality aims of the underpinning Directive, and the cause of European integration more generally. The paper explores the contextual background to the cases, and examines the theoretical debates surrounding religion claims at work. It argues that, by following an approach largely based on human rights thinking from the ECtHR, the CJEU has taken the wrong direction in its first cases, and that it should instead have framed the protection in terms of its own firm commitment to equality. In addition, the paper argues that the CJEU missed the chance to set the case law within the policy of European integration that is served by the EU equality agenda more generally.
Access to the files of this resource is restricted.Information about access: The publisher of this manuscript does not allow Open Access sharing of the research
Vickers, Lucy
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences\School of Law
Year of publication: 2017Date of RADAR deposit: 2017-08-09
“Users who receive access to an article through a repository are reminded that the article is protected by copyright and reuse is restricted to non-commercial and no derivative uses. Users may also download and save a local copy of an article accessed in an institutional repository for the user's personal reference.”