Kosher slaughter should be allowed again immediately in Poland, according to a legal opinion drafted by Polish lawyer and former Deputy Prime Minister Roman Giertych.
According to the opinion, which will be submitted to the Polish government which examines the issue legally, the ritual slaughter ban was adopted in violation of the European law that requires formal notification of the EU Commision for a legislation that contravenes EU regulation.
Jewish and Muslim leaders argue that the ban violates their religious freedom.
In a telephone conversation from Warsaw, Giertych, who is acting as the lawyer representing the European Jewish Association (EJA), a Brussels Jewish umbrella group leading the fight against the ban of kosher slaughter in Poland, told European Jewish Press (EJP) the slaughter is not legally valid also because the Minister of Agriculture notified Poland’s decision to ban the religious ritual before EU`s regulation was implemented in Polish law on January 1s t saying that individual member states countries will have discretion on whether to allow or ban ritual slaughter.
‘The notification was sent by the Minister of Agriculture before 1 January. It was a formal mistake. The EU directive applied immediately in Poland law and in this case it supersedes national law’’, Giertych said.
Menachem Margolin, Director General of the European Jewish Association, stressed that the adoption of the legal opinion by the Polish government would reinstate the ritual slaughter immediately, without the need for a further discussion in the Polish Parliament nor a ruling from the Constitutional Tribunal on whether the ban violates religious freedom in the country.
’We are hopeful that the Polish government will now adopt the legal opinion formulation and cancel the Polish parliament decision, bringing an end to this affair,’’’ he told EJP.
Kosher and halal slaughtering were both banned in Poland after the Constitutional Court, ruling in November 2012 on a motion from animal rights groups, deemd it incompatible with animal rights legislation. Slaughter without prior stunning is required in the Jewish religion.
But the discussion in Poland is not only related to religion. The Jewish and Muslim groups’ protest are also supported by Polish farmers and butchers. As Poland is exporting meat from ritually slaughtered animals to Israel, Turkey and the Arab states on a large scale, they feared losses in exports of around 1.5 billion Zloty (more than 400 million Euro).
In order to enshrine ritual slaughter in Polish legislation designed to streamline the way that Polish procedures correspond with EU rules, the Polish government drafted regulations to again allow ritual slaughter. But in July, the Sjem, the Polish parliament rejected the government bill that would have reinstated the practice.
Since then, the EJA under Rabbi Margolin led negotiations on the issue with Polish Minister of Administration and minorities Michael Boni and Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, as well as meetings with the EU institutions.