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Abortion, the protection of children and the disabled, the campaign against the trafficking of women, the denunciation of overcrowding in prisons, the outlawing of every form of racism and xenophobia: all this is contained in the annual Report for 2003 on the situation of fundamental rights in the European Union. But the Report goes even further, taking on board recent calls for the reform of national legislations in terms of drugs and the composition of the nuclear family (homosexual unions) and the legalization of abortion and euthanasia. The document, previously approved in the Commission for the liberties and rights of citizens of the European Parliament, was rejected in the parliamentary assembly on Thursday, 1st April, with 184 votes against, 177 in favour and 13 abstentions. The EP had previously approved paragraph 12, containing some of the most disturbing statements in the whole Report, in which, for example, it is claimed that many women in the Union “are still denied the right to abortion”, and in which it is urged that member states should therefore “ensure that all young, poor or immigrant women have equal access to safe and legal abortion” and “to emergency contraception”. The document also declares that the prohibition of torture and any “inhumane treatment” would involve “the prohibition of obstinate therapeutic treatment in the terminal phase, the promotion of palliative treatment, and the respect of the patient’s will as expressed for example through ‘testaments of life’. To this end, member states are asked to “evaluate the possibility of amending laws relating to the end of life by regulating euthanasia”. For the time being the document has been put on hold. But it will return to the assembly after the summer, to be debated by a Parliament renewed in its composition. So the problems raised by this Report have only been deferred. The document confirms the need to support, but not to be limited to, a politico-institutional action aimed at “blocking the road” to grave Community decisions at the ethical and moral level. But what is also needed, apart from a political commitment of guidance and vigilance, is an effort to reawaken consciences, act in profundity in the educational and cultural field, and pose as an objective the sensitisation of European citizens, believers or not, on the values linked to respect for life, promotion of the family, dialogue between the generations, and defence of the weakest members of society, beginning with the poor, the disabled, and those denied access to education … Catholics, like all those who believe in the sacredness of human life, have a precise point of reference in the words of John Paul II. “In keeping with a healthy cooperation between the ecclesial community and political society writes the Pope in his Apostolic Exhortation “Ecclesia in Europa” the Catholic Church is convinced that she can make a unique contribution to the prospect of unification by offering the European institutions, in continuity with her tradition and in fidelity to the principles of her social teaching, the engagement of believing communities committed to bringing about the humanization of society on the basis of the Gospel, lived under the sign of hope. From this standpoint, the presence of Christians, properly trained and competent, is needed in the various European agencies and institutions, in order to contribute with respect for the correct dynamics of democracy and through an exchange of proposals to the shaping of a European social order which is increasingly respectful of every man and woman, and thus in accordance with the common good” (no. 117). The European elections are drawing close. May these notes help to recall the responsibilities that belong to us all! sir
