European Union " "
“The Churches are interested in contributing to the work of the Convention for the reform of the European institutions”. So said the representatives of the Christian Churches on recently meeting, in Madrid, Spain’s Secretary of State for European affairs, Ramón de Miguel, and representatives of the Spanish presidency of the EU, which will remain in office till June this year. Taking part in the meeting were representatives of the Commission of the episcopates of the European Community (COMECE), the Conference of European Churches (KEK), the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, as well as representatives of Spain’s Evangelical and Reformed Churches. The delegation expressed its “regret” about the lack of “any direct reference to the role of the Churches and religious communities” in the process of European reform and asked the Spanish Secretary of State to organize “specific auditions for the Churches and religious communities” to enable them to express their views. The delegation also explained “the Churches’ concerns about the ethical problems raised by biomedical research, such as research on stem cells”. Lastly, mention was made of two future meetings: the first is the meeting between the ministers of the Barcelona process for Euro-Mediterranean cooperation, scheduled to be held in Valencia on 22 and 23 April, with regard to which the Churches urged “a renewed commitment to interreligious dialogue”. The second is the EU-Latin American summit, scheduled to be held in Madrid on 17 and 18 February, with regard to which they urged “a generous support for the Latin-American countries”.
