January 2011 – Leuven & Brussels, Belgium

An international Symposium on “Religious Diversity and the European Workplace” convened at the Law Faculty of Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, on 13 January 2011. The event was organized by the University’s Institute for Migration Law and the Anthropology of Law under the umbrella of FP7 Religare. Religare, “Religious Diversity and Secular Models in Europe: Innovative Approaches to Law and Policy, ” is a 3-year EU 7th Framework Program (2010-2013) addressing the challenges of religious pluralism in contemporary Europe. It explores the ways equality is challenged by the increasing diversity of religions and other convictions transforming Europe into a new type of entity. The focus is on ten target countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. For more information on Religare, see www.religareproject.eu.

The next day, January 14, a RELIGARE Policy Meeting, organized by the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), was hosted by Senator Rik Torfs, leader of work package 4, in the buildings of the Belgian Senate, followed in the afternoon by a RELIGARE Consortium Meeting at CEPS (1, Place du Congres, Brussels).