” “The contribution of the Churches ” “

The European Union is reviewing its own identity in view of a possible enlargement to 27 other countries and the institutional reforms that could lead to the drawing up of a European Constitution. So, just a few days after the inauguration of the Convention on the future of Europe, COMECE (Commission of the Episcopal Conferences of the European Community), in collaboration with the Catholic University and diocese of Lille, decided to hold a study seminar on the “challenges for a united Europe” on 7 March. Enlargement: Europe’s priority. “The reunification of Europe is our ideal and must be our priority”, said Jacques Delors, former President of the European Commission, on addressing the seminar in Lille. Thanks to the Union’s enlargement, Delors explained, “we could integrate the various expressions of Europe that we have in the continent and finally leave behind us the schism of the East, the wars of religion, and world wars”. If “we succeed in this intention Europe will become an unique laboratory in terms of globalization”. “I hope that the Convention for the future of Europe will be guided by the memory of the victims of divided Europe” in the twentieth century”, added Msgr. Josef Homeyer, bishop of Hildesheim in Germany and president of COMECE, on winding up the work of the seminar. The Union’s responsibility. Bishop Homeyer also recalled “Europe’s geopolitical responsibility” in the government of the world order. In this regard, Jean-Luc Dehaene, vice-president of the European Convention, in his address to the seminar, pointed out that, thanks to the work first of the Convention and then of the intergovernmental conference, “we are called to consolidate European integration in the framework of global balances”. The vice-president of the Convention gave an assurance that the first priority of the Convention would be to “listen to civil society so as to enable it to make its full contribution to the process of EU reform”. The Forum of civil society has been created for this purpose and – added Dehaene – “we have already asked the main European NGOs to liaise and dialogue with the members of the Convention”. Listening to the Churches. “We are awaiting the Church to express its views and be listened to in the process of the reform of Europe”, stressed Delors. “We don’t ask for privileges – declared Msgr. Hippolyte Simon, bishop of Clermont – but nor do we want to be excluded from the debate on the future of our continent. We therefore wish to make our contribution through the Forum of civil society”. The Italian jurist Cesare Mirabelli, former president of Italy’s Constitutional Court, on speaking at the Lille seminar, explained that “the problem of the role of the Churches in the EU is not a confessional but an essentially lay problem: i.e. how do the EU institutions intend to react to the various realities which they consult, and which also include the communities of believers? Two work groups. The conclusions of the seminar held in Lille made themselves felt in the debate within the plenary assembly of COMECE on 8 March. Various recommendations useful for the reflection of two works groups set up by COMECE emerged from the discussions. One group, on “Christian faith and European integration”, coordinated by Msgr. Simon, bishop of Clermont, has been given the task of preparing a document on the meaning of European integration from a theological point of view. This document, at least in its main lines, will be submitted to the examination of the next assembly of the bishops of the European Union in the autumn, and its publication is planned for 2004. Another work group, more restricted, coordinated by Msgr. Attilio Nicora, vice-president of COMECE, will monitor the work of the European Convention and draft the contributions to be presented to the Forum. The plenary assembly of bishops of the EU confirmed Msgr. Nöel Treanor in the post of secretary general of COMECE for a further three-year period. Ignazio Ingrao