The highest court in Greece has ruled against current regulations allowing ritual slaughter.
The court banned the current slaughter permit, provided through a ministerial decision that exempted ritual slaughter from the general requirement to stun animals before killing them.
Judges said lawmakers must work out a way to meet the demands of animal rights advocates and the needs of Jews and Muslims who follow the laws about food in their traditions.
“The government should regulate the issue of slaughtering animals in the context of worship in such a way as to ensure both the protection of animals from any inconvenience during slaughter and the religious freedom of religious Muslims and Jews living in Greece,” the court said, according to the Greek news site Protothema.
Last December, the EU’s highest court upheld the bans imposed in regions of Belgium against slaughtering animals for meat without stunning them first. The ruling meant that slaughter in accordance with Jewish law, which requires animals to be conscious when their necks are cut, would be prohibited in those regions, as it is in some other parts of Europe.