ecumenism" "
On 20 January, the Greek minister of culture Evangelos Venizelos met a delegation of MEPs and the president of the Culture Commission of the European Parliament in Brussels to discuss a question that has aroused great interest in Greek public opinion: the fact that women are prohibited from gaining access to the territories of Mount Athos, a geographical area of some 400 square kilometres in which 20 monastic communities are situated, representing all the nationalities of the Orthodox Church. The question arose on 14 January when the EP with a very slender majority of 277 votes in favour (255 against) approved a “non binding” resolution, according to which the ban on women “violates the universally recognized principle of the equality of the sexes, Community legislation on non-discrimination and provisions on the free circulation of persons within the European Union”. The Greek minister explained to the MEPs that the Mount Athos peninsula “is self-governed”, and that “the whole territory belongs to the monasteries and is therefore private property”. Venizelos further explained that the decision to prohibit access to women was never requested from the Greek government, but taken by the Council of the monastic community. It is a law he added that dates back to 1045 and was confirmed by the Greek Constitution. Such questions, however, said the minister, “belong to a religious tradition towards which the EU should adopt an attitude of tolerance and open-mindedness”.
