Religion in the European Parliament: Between Nation and Europe

This book explores what the European Union (EU) does to religion and what religion does to the EU. Europe is secularising, and meanwhile struggling with a renewed salience of religion as a political and cultural resource instrumentalised for various purposes. The EU as a whole, and especially the European Parliament as the representative body reflecting the diversity and conflicts of national societies, face this challenge in their everyday functioning. This book presents the second wave of an unprecedented survey studying what members of the European Parliament (MEPs) believe, and what they do with these beliefs. Research questions include: Are European elites more secularised than EU citizens and national politicians? What is the impact of religion on the political socialisation of MEPs and, conversely, what is the influence of MEPs on religion? How do religion, coalition- and decision-making interact at the European level? What happens in the triangular relationship between nation, Europe, and religion? Contributions from leading researchers in the field shed light on the shifting effects of religion on attitudes towards European integration, on voting and party dynamics, and on interactions between major transformations such as secularisation, Europeanisation and politicization. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of European integration, the European Parliament, politics and religion, comparative politics and political sociology. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Religion, State and Society.

Table of Contents:
An introduction to ‘Religion in the European Parliament: between nation and Europe’ 1. Confessional culture, religiosity, and traditionalism: tracing the influence of religion on public attitudes towards European integration 2. The right and religion in European Union politics: from ‘confessionalism’ to ‘conservatism’ 3. Overview of RelEP2 (2019–2024) findings. Is there a politicisation of and through religion in the European Parliament? 4. United by history, divided by God? Religion among Dutch and Belgian members of the European Parliament 5. A republic uncomfortable with what comes from above (God or Europe): political representation and laïcité in Europeanising France 6. Vertical inroads of religion into European parliamentary politics: how socialisation and national party affiliation shape German MEPs’ consideration of religion 7. God, [political] family… and Europe? The selective resilience of religion in shaping the work of Italian members of the European Parliament 8. Religion in the narratives of Polish members of the European Parliament – politicising European integration? 9. Portuguese MEPs and religion as a case of ‘dual identity’: Christians at heart, secular at work 10. The end of the ‘Iberian exception’: religion and the new Spanish far right in the European Parliament

About the Author :
François Foret is Professor of political science, researcher at Cevipol and President of the Institute for European Studies-IEE, Université Libre de Bruxelles; and also Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre, European University Institute, Florence. His research interest is in interactions between politics, culture and religion; comparative politics; and European studies.

Review :
“This book provides a timely and relevant update about the role of religion in the European political process. In a deeply secularised European society, politicisation ‘of religion’ and ‘through religion’ can still happen in many different ways, with the European Parliament witnessing both the little influence of religiosity and the powerful impact of religion as a symbolic resource.” Marco Ventura, Professor of Law and Religion, University of Sienna “Drawing on an in-depth survey of dozens of MEPs conducted between 2019 and 2024, François Foret's book is a major study of the role of religion in political deliberation within the European Parliament. Written by a team of renowned academics, the contributions it brings together show that the political work of MEPs, despite their national differences, is affected by a dual process: a process of secularisation of political thought, even in parties with Christian Democratic roots, and a process of culturalisation of religious identity, particularly visible in populist parties. This is an essential work, both empirically and theoretically, for understanding the contemporary reconfigurations of the relationship between politics and religion.” Philippe Portier, Research director at École pratique des Hautes Études- Paris Sciences et Lettres "This volume represents an essential and timely reading, based on rich empirical projects, for students, scholars, and policy-makers seeking to understand the interplay of religion and policy at the national and supranational levels to understand today’s European Union and the future of European integration." Dr Simona Guerra, University of Surrey