IGC (1)" "
After the failure of the Intergovernmental Conference in Brussels, we present a first series of comments and reactions by the various European Episcopal Conferences. Slovakia “The failure of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) has shown up the splits between EU member states. But if on the one hand this causes the deferment of fundamental questions for Europe, on the other it offers time we hope enough to find a viable solution. We in Slovakia think we won’t enter the Europe that Adenauer, Schumann, De Gasperi and the other founding fathers had dreamt of, and not even the Europe with which we conducted our entry negotiations. We are entering a Europe that still needs to be constructed and verified in its intentions, but we’re ready to make our own contribution. If a risk does exist, now, it is that of the re-emergence of a kind of euro-scepticism which I hope will be swept away by the efforts of the member states to seek and find a solution: the solution that Europe failed to find in Brussels last week” (Marian Gavenda, spokesman of the Slovak Episcopal Conference). Cyprus “The failure to find an agreement at the recent IGC in Brussels ought not, I think, to lead us to speak of an irreversible crisis. It think it is rather a crisis ‘of growth’. I trust in the good will of governments to solve those problems that doomed the IGC to failure. We’ll now see what happens with the next semesters of the revolving Presidency, beginning with the Irish one. Meanwhile, in Cyprus, we are playing our part. Something positive did in any case come out of the IGC, namely the position of Europe on the reunification of Cyprus. Elections in the Northern zone of Cyprus, the one governed by Turkey, were held last Sunday. From the ballot [ not yet completed at the time of the declaration] it would seem that the opposition party has a slight advantage. We’ll now see whether the two parties will find a compromise or whether the army will make its pressure felt. The opposition has always said that it wants to reunify the island and that it is favourable to Kofi Annan’s plan. This could give an impulse to the entry into the EU of the whole of Cyprus. Let’s wait and see: policy is made not of words but facts.” (Father Umberto Barato, Latin Vicar of Nicosia, Cyprus). Greece “I’m not surprised by this failure, I expected it. On the other hand, how can we construct a Europe merely on the basis of money and the economy, forgetting the founding values of Europe, those testified by Christians like De Gasperi, Adenauer, Schumann…? We’ll never construct Europe if we don’t reflect on these values and if the Christian tradition is squandered or worse still deliberately forgotten. The hope is that this time of reflection, which the European Union has before it, will serve to meditate on the mistakes made and find the right political solutions and a consensus respectful of the human and spiritual dignity of man. Founding Europe merely on economic and material values means certain failure and its disintegration within the next few years”. (Msgr. Nikolaos Foskolos, president of the Greek Episcopal Conference). Slovenia “It’s not a catastrophe. Perhaps we expected too much from this Intergovernmental Conference. It was thought that a solution was within our grasp, but that wasn’t so. Diverging interests once again showed too many splits among the member states. The next six months of the Irish Presidency must represent a privileged time for reflection to find new solutions and ideas. We need to learn to think together… Time is needed, but without succumbing to pessimism or scepticism: the process of European enlargement and integration has progressed too far to be able to turn back. Europe is an irreversible process so long as it is focuses on values that are not just material and economic”. (Father Janez Grill, director of the publishing house of the Catholic weekly ‘Druzina’, former spokesman of the Slovene bishops).
