Cuius religio - EU ius regio?

Lasia Bloss analyzes and compares the corporate element of the freedom of religion as well as the institutional framework of churches and religious (as well as non-confessional) communities on the national and the European level. The author offers a comparative analysis of four EU Member States representing the more or less strict separation between church and state (France), co-operational links between the two (Spain, Germany), or an established church system (United Kingdom), and in doing so, she outlines the existing discrepancies and also stresses common parameters due to at least comparable, historically conferred, primarily Christian values and traditions. She then focuses upon the fundamental right of the freedom of religion on the supranational level as well as the legal framework provided by the European Union, including its primary and secondary legal sources respecting implications for churches and religious (as well as non-confessional) corporations, primarily resulting from directives regulating specific economic sectors and thereby touching upon religious self-conceptions.