The Constitutional Court on Thursday annulled several provisions of a Flemish decree banning local religious communities from receiving funding or support from abroad, a measure aimed primarily at mosques.
The decree of 22 October 2021 regulating the recognition of local religious communities ended a stalemate that had lasted for years, after then Home Affairs minister Liesbeth Homans (N-VA) halted the recognition of mosques in 2017.
The new text imposes a number of strict conditions for the recognition of a religious community. These include a ban on foreign interference and funding, and a mandatory register for all donations over €1,000. In addition, it takes four years for any new application for recognition to be examined by a new inspectorate.
Several associations, including the Belgian wing of the Diyanet - the Turkish religious affairs administration, which claims to have some 80 mosques under its wing- challenged the decree before the Constitutional Court. They argued that the conditions for recognition and the ban on foreign funding and support violate freedom of worship.
Diyanet mosques employ almost exclusively Turkish state imams, who are also paid by Turkey. The new conditions would make this impossible.
In a ruling on Thursday, the Court found that the provisions were contrary to freedom of religion and worship and annulled elements of three articles of the decree.
