"The highest court in Greece on Tuesday issued a ban on the slaughter of animals in accordance with the religious rites of both Jews and Muslims, leading one Jewish leader to warn that the community’s freedom to observe its religious laws 'is under direct attack across Europe.'
In its ruling, the Hellenic Council of State — the Supreme Administrative Court of Greece — determined that the slaughter of animals for kosher and halal consumption was illegal under both Greek and European law. The court upheld a complaint from an animal rights organization, the Panhellenic Animal Welfare and Environmental Federation, that slaughtering animals without prior stunning contravened animal protection legislation.
The Greek court’s decision is another blow to efforts in Europe to protect shechita — the binding rules outlined in the Torah that concern the killing of animals for human consumption — from judicial censure. Under the laws of shechita, pre-stunning of animals is not permitted.
Earlier this month, Belgium’s Constitutional Court affirmed the legality of a ban on ritual slaughter first introduced in 2017. That decision followed last December’s shock ruling of the European Court of Justice — the supreme arbiter of European Union law — permitting EU member states to ban the slaughtering of animals without pre-stunning. Meanwhile, Poland’s government is currently preparing legislation that will ban the production of kosher and halal meat by 2025..."