While the draft law to officially recognise Buddhism as a non-denominal worldview was provisionally approved in March 2023, this now hangs in the balance as the bill has been held up in the Chamber following divisions within the Federal Government.
An estimated 150,000 followers of Buddhism reside in Belgium and the Buddhist Union of Belgium (BUB) applied for recognition as a non-denominational worldview back in 2006.
Granting Buddhism official recognition had been part of the Federal Government's coalition agreement; the bill that would achieve this has already passed through government twice. The text only needed to be ratified by the Chamber but has instead been blocked, with official recognition apparently off the table completely due to disagreements within the Government. The Francophone socialists (PS) and liberals (MR) in particular, have a problem with the draft, a source told Belga News Agency.
Intensive lobbying
Officially recognising Buddhism as a non-denominal worldview is part of the coalition agreement and as such a solution will still be sought. However, this will likely not happen in the Chamber. The draft bill was on the agenda of the Committee last week but was also removed.
To explain the hold-up, objections were made to the Committee by the Centre d'Action Laïque (CAL), which serves as the mouthpiece of liberalism in French-speaking Belgium and has a marked influence on social debates in this domain. The CAL opposed the bill because it questioned whether Buddhism would be categorised as a "non-denominational philosophy of life" or a "religion".
In an open letter published on Monday 8 April, BUB President Carlo Luyckx also cited "intensive but discreet" lobbying work of the liberals against recognition.
The file has now been passed back to the government to find a solution. The office of Justice Minister Paul Van Tigchelt (Open VLD) did not want to comment.
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The government will have to hurry if it is to give Buddhism official recognition in this legislature. The last session of the Chamber is scheduled for 8 May after which Parliament will close ahead of the elections.
Should the draft still make it to the final session, Buddhism would become the eighth officially recognised worldview in Belgium, after Roman Catholicism (which was recognised in 1830), Judaism (also in 1830), Anglicanism (1835), Protestant-Evangelicalism (1876), Islam (1974), Orthodoxy (1985) and liberal-humanism (2002).
The BUB would be designated as the representative of the Buddhist community and become the official interlocutor of the government. Official recognition would also allow the Buddhist community to access financial support, notably through a federal endowment to professionalise the organisational structure, pay salaries and pensions, and cover the operating costs of the federal secretariat.
Since 2008, the BUB has already received an annual grant of around €200,000 to better structure itself with a view to recognition. After recognition it will receive a total of €1.4 million each year.
