Religion and EU Morality Politics: The European Citizen Initiative 'One of Us'

The paper analyzes the role of religion in EU morality politics through the European citizen initiative “One of Us”. Launched in 2012 in order to ask the Commission to stop funding the destruction of human embryos, the initiative symbolizes the growing politicization of morality issues at the EU level – in this case, abortion and human embryonic stem cell research (hESCR), which do not directly belong to the EU competence regime. Meanwhile, they both raise ethical questions bearing a strong religious dimension with regard to the definition of human life. In the light of the increasing role of religion in EU politics, and of the EU’s competence creep into morality issues, the paper asks a threefold research question. First, who has been mobilizing in favor of, or against the initiative? The purpose is to study the interactions between European religious actors, and other social and political actors. Findings show that some American religious actors have also been involved in the One of Us campaign. Second, how have all these actors been mobilizing in favor of, or against the initiative? The purpose is to study the activities of different coalitions of (religious) actors, and the way(s) they seek to promote their agenda at the EU level. Actually, protagonists play on a multi-level field of action. The organizers of One of US have indeed decided to file a lawsuit to the CJEU in order to challenge the Commission’s decision not to submit a legislative proposal putting an end to EU embryo-destructive programs. Third, why have they been mobilizing in favor of, or against the initiative? The purpose is to study the objective of politicizing religion and morality issues at the EU level despite the limited competence of the Union for these matters. The paper consists in a qualitative case study which is based on a discourse analysis of official documents, policy papers and semi-structured interviews. The results shed light on religious actors’ interactions, strategies and objectives in the EU governance of abortion and hESCR.