Three issues of the day” ” ” “

“Europe-infos” is the monthly online bulletin of the Commission of the Episcopates of the European Community and of OCIPE, the Catholic Office for Information for Europe. In its May number (no. 49) it tackles among other things EU enlargement, agriculture and bioethics. Published in French, German, English, Spanish and Polish, the bulletin is available on the websites www.comece.org and www.ocipe.org. A brief preview below. A consolidated continent. That’s the title of the editorial signed by Pierre de Charentenay and Nöel Treanor who reply to the doubts expressed by those twenty MEPs who abstained during the vote that opened the doors of Europe to ten new member states. “Is it really necessary? Oughtn’t we to have waited a few more years to ensure a better integration? To these arguments – says the editorial – we reply with the meaning of symbols… Europe sends a message to the whole world on the capacity of countries formerly at war with each other to work together… It is the concrete realization of a new way of living together in diversity”. Faced by the debate on integration now underway, continues the editorial, “we need to insist on the long years of preparation that led to this enlargement… It’s for over ten years now that the candidate countries have been awaiting this moment. To have postponed it any longer would have made integration still more difficult”. It is essential therefore that “the 25 countries set themselves a long-term objective, the consolidation of a peaceful and dynamic continent”. European agriculture. The state and prospects of the agriculture of the countries of the Union are analysed in the article of Stefan Lunte, of the COMECE secretariat for economic and social policies. “The deadline for the negotiations in progress at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva expired on 31 March – writes Lunte – . At the time of the Doha Conference in November 2001, the 145 member states of the WTO, in which the 15 are represented by the EU, had agreed by this date to determine the procedures for agricultural negotiations within the WTO”. These negotiations see a divergence between, on the one hand, the EU, also attentive to non-commercial interests, such as the protection of the environment and food safety, and, on the other, the other negotiators who see in this position an attempt by the Union to maintain the high subsidies paid to European agriculture in other forms. “On the question of subsidies the EU had shown its willingness to dialogue on condition – says Lunte – that the USA were willing to discuss its food aid, whose function is to eliminate surpluses”. Each year, in fact, the rich countries dispense 300 billion dollars in agricultural subsidies, six times more than what they allocate to development aid. This aid, according to Lunte, “could be used in a different way. Just what the EU is trying to do by reforming its own agricultural policy”. Bioethics, a delicate issue. “The Union must respect national rules and values when it funds research”. Katharina Schauer, of the Comece Secretariat for bioethical questions, reviews the Union’s commitment in the field of bioethics by examining the Busquin report of the Commission of 7 April. “It’s incredible – declares Schauer – that the main question: can human embryos be destroyed for research purposes?, should be passed over in silence in the report”. “Deep concern is aroused by some tendencies that permit the European funding of research on embryos in those countries where this kind of research is permitted. Even if this is prohibited in other member states, it would in effect be considered a common objective of research of the Union, and all member states would be obliged to fund it. Europe – she concludes – must on the contrary respect the diversity of ethical decisions that are the result of the different historical experiences and religious and philosophical outlooks” of the member states.