DISSENTING OPINION OF JUDGE VEHABOVIĆ

I regret that I am unable to subscribe to the view of the majority that there has been a violation of Article 9.

As concluded in the cases of Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia and Others v. Moldova (no. 45701/99, §§ 102-05, ECHR 2001-XII), Religionsgemeinschaft der Zeugen Jehovas and Others v. Austria (no. 40825/98, §§ 64-69, 31 July 2008) and Metodiev and Others v. Bulgaria (no. 58088/08, §§ 34 et seq., 15 June 2017), Article 9 does not confer any right to a specific legal status. It merely requires that religious groups have the possibility of acquiring legal personality under civil law.

As there is already a registered religious community of Alevis in Austria, it seems to me that the registration of a new religious community almost identical in wording and in terms of religious doctrine does not provide any added value to the right to freedom of religion under Article 9 of the Convention. As the Government rightly noted, members of ALEVI would also have qualified as members of the applicant association. Consequently, the two religious groups were not distinguishable in terms of their membership.

According to its settled case-law, the Court leaves to Contracting States a certain margin of appreciation in deciding whether and to what extent any interference is necessary. It is true that a wide margin is usually afforded to States when it comes to general measures of economic or social strategy. This is because, given their direct knowledge of their society and its needs, the national authorities are in principle better placed than the international judge to appreciate what is “in the public interest” (see James and Others v. the United Kingdom , 21 February 1986, § 46, Series A no. 98; see also, for example, National and Provincial Building Society, Leeds Permanent Building Society and Yorkshire Building Society v. the United Kingdom , 23 October 1997, § 80, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1997-VII, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. the United Kingdom , no. 7552/09 , 4 March 2014).