Abstract

Starting from the analysis of the recent ECHR’s decision Papageorgiou and others v. Greece, this essay investigates the key elements of the right to (religious) education in confessional states. The European Court of Human Rights found that Greece violates the rights of schoolchildren to freedom of religion by forcing their parents to reveal their beliefs in order to exempt them from religious education classes. In this article, particular consideration is eventually given to the parameters used by the Court of Justice to solve the case: even if the European judge states that the case will be analysed according to article 2, prot. 1 (as interpreted in light of art. 9 ECHR), a special role is played also by respect for private life.