European rabbis: Shechitah could come under legislative attack in EU

(JTA) — A prominent European rabbinical group has warned that kosher slaughter could come under further attack this year in European Union countries.

“Many European Jewish communities are not aware that shechitah could be put in danger,” Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the Conference of European Rabbis, wrote Tuesday in an email sent to multiple recipients.

The danger, he wrote, stems from governments’ reliance “on deeply flawed, agenda-led research when making policy.”

Goldschmidt  pointed out that EU member countries are required to replace domestic laws on religious slaughter by January 2013 with European Regulation 1099, a set of new regulations meant to ensure animals do not experience "unnecessary suffering" at or near the time of the slaughter.

While the regulations allow exception for religious slaughter, they also allow "a certain level of subsidiarity," or discretion, to each member state.

Goldschmidt noted the planned change in Estonia’s laws on ritual slaughter.

Last week an Estonian government official told JTA that Estonia would change its current laws on religious slaughter because the rituals “do not take new scientific knowledge into account.” There was no plan to ban the practice, she said.

The official added the change would be based on the EU-funded DialRel report of 2010, which states that kosher slaughter, or shechitah, causes higher risk, pain and suffering in animals than methods that involve stunning. Jewish religious law requires animals to be conscious when their necks are cut.

“European governments are increasingly making reference to the DialRel project as part of their implementation of European Regulation 1099,” Goldschmidt said. “Faith communities rejected the methodology and findings of DialRel in 2010 when it failed to properly engage with them.”

The report “was mentioned in the context” of the Dutch Parliament’s 2011 vote to ban shechitah, Goldschmidt noted. The Dutch Senate scrapped the measure in June.

Shechitah is banned in Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and Iceland. Along with Estonia, countries that impose post-cut stunning include Finland, Denmark and Austria.