Slovakia has adopted a law, which effectively prevents Islam from becoming an official state religion in the country amid surging anti-Muslim sentiments across Europe.
The legislation, which had been proposed by far-right Slovak National Party (SNS), held that a religion needs to have at least 50,000 members, up from 20,000, so it could be registered as official.
It earned support from two-thirds of the parliament, which blocked another proposal that any religion had to have 250,000 followers so it can be considered an official faith.
The party’s Chairman Andrej Danko said, “We must do everything we can so that no mosque is built in the future.”
Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico has said “Islam has no place” in the country.
