Austria Says Crucifixes in Public Nursery Schools Not Unconstitutional

16 March 2011 – Vienna

The Constitutional Court of Austria (Verfassungsgerichtshof, VfGH) has ruled that the display of crucifixes in classrooms of state-run nursery schools does not violate Austria’s constitution. In Austria as elsewhere in Europe the European Convention on Human Rights enjoys the status of constitutional law, and interpretation of the Convention generally follows the ECtHR’s case law. Hence, in this case, filed by an atheist following the ECtHR’s Lautsi decision, a different result might have been expected.