A leaked report reveals a controversial plan to dramatically increase the influence of religious groups on the European Parliament, openDemocracy can reveal today.

Written by Irish MEP Mairead McGuinness, the parliament’s vice-president, it would give churches a say on potentially every new piece of legislation, resolution or report going through the European Parliament.

The report recommends more direct meetings between religious associations and the parliament’s rapporteurs – who handle legislative proposals drawn up by the European Commission, as well as other key documents, including draft strategies.

Religious groups are already treated differently to other civil society organisations in Brussels. But critics say the proposed changes would increase this imbalance. Some MEPs say this would violate the separation of religion and politics.

McGuinness’s report was presented last month to the European Parliament’s bureau, which decides the body’s rules and draft budgets.

It was shelved after lawmakers protested, but is expected to be discussed again in June – after the parliament’s hotly contested elections, in which far-right parties hope to make big gains.

Already far-right politicians from Italy to Hungary are pledging to defend ‘Christian Europe’ and promote an ultra-conservative 'traditional values' agenda, aligning with Christian conservative groups that oppose divorce and contraception as well as sex education, abortion and gay rights.

There is concern from MEPs that an increased far-right presence in the European Parliament could aid future attempts to pass McGuinness’s controversial proposals.

One MEP told openDemocracy that the report was “pre-empting decisions in the next parliament” and that this, with the predicted surge of far right MEPs, is “worrying”.

openDemocracy can further reveal that Mairead McGuinness’s assistant in Brussels, a senior Irish civil servant who is understood to have worked on this report, is also connected to Agenda Europe, a secretive network which campaigns against sexual and reproductive rights.

The report’s recommendations would also apply to ‘non-confessional philosophical groups’ that parliament consults with, including humanist organisations. But these groups are fewer in number – and they are also highly critical of the proposals.

Julie Pernet, at the European Humanist Federation, told openDemocracy that the report was supposed to be “the result of a broad consensus” of organisations, “which is not true”. Rather, she said, it primarily reflects the positions of powerful Christian groups who want to “impose a reactionary agenda” and “make sure EU legislation obeys Catholic dogma”.

In a letter to the parliament’s president, a group of MEPs said the proposals were a “severe violation of the principle of separation between religion and politics” and would create “a highly undesirable and untransparent privileged lobby channel for religious organisations.”

Citing openDemocracy’s recent investigation into the millions of dollars the US Christian right has pumped into European politics over the last decade – boosting the influence of the far right across the continent – the MEPs warn that it would be “irresponsible to open up the legislative process to religious organisations”.

The MEPs also questioned the report’s claim to reflect “a clear consensus” among the consulted groups, saying it “appear[s] to endorse mostly the views of the churches present”.

‘Christian Europe’ and the far right

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is perhaps the most prominent far-right politician pledging to defend ‘Christian Europe’ and promote an ultra-conservative 'traditional values' agenda. He put such pledges in his party’s European elections manifesto. Another far-right leader, Matteo Salvini – Italy’s deputy prime minister and far-right Lega party leader – called a recent summit of ultra-conservative Christian activists an example of “the Europe that we like”.

Many of these politicians have targeted ‘gender ideology’: aligning themselves with Christian conservative groups that oppose divorce and contraception as well as sex education, same-sex marriage, trans rights, and women’s access to safe, legal abortion.

Viviana Waisman, director of Women’s Link Worldwide, a women’s rights organisation with offices in Spain and Colombia, has warned that these global Christian conservative movements seek to “take us back in time in terms of what women can and can’t do”.