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A declaration on the opening of negotiations with Turkey, a concerned judgement on the Lisbon Agenda, and a glance towards the future of the Union with a renewed commitment “to support with determination the process of continental integration”: these were some of the issues on the agenda of the plenary session of COMECE, the Commission of the episcopates of the European Community which represents 21 Episcopal Conferences of the 25 EU member states, held in Brussels on 18-19 November. The bishops spent two intensive days, dedicated to a debate on the Lisbon Strategy (economic competitiveness, employment and social cohesion) and to an assessment of the outgoing EU Executive headed by Romano Prodi. They then turned their attention to the new Commission headed by José Manuel Durao Barroso. During the session there was also a round table on “The European Union and Turkey”. HAND STRETCHED OUT TO Ankara, THOUGH CALLING FOR HUMAN RIGHTS TO BE RESPECTED. The participants in the round table included the president of the European bishops, the German Msgr. Josef Homeyer, the permanent representative of Poland to the Twenty-Five, Marek Grela, and two academics: the French Sylvie Goulard, contrary to the start of negotiations on Turkey’s entry into the EU; and the German Otmar Oehring, who spoke of the problems relating to the defence of human rights and religious freedom in Turkey. The decision whether to start negotiations on Turkey’s membership of the EU “is a question he said not of a religious but of a political order”; it “deserves discussion in depth within European civil society”. The COMECE assembly approved a declaration in which it is affirmed: “For the Catholic Church it is important that Turkey and the Union develop constructive and friendly relations. There cannot be obstacles of a religious nature to a country with a Moslem majority becoming a member of the Union”. To this end, however, it is “essential for Turkey to respect fundamental rights, for example the equality of status of women, freedom of expression and religious liberty”. REDISCOVERING THE “COMMON MEMORY” OF THE continent. The assembly then turned its attention to a revision of the document “Let us Open Our Hearts”, regarding the commitment of Catholics to the construction of an EU founded on recognizable values and on “a true European spirit”. The first draft of the document dates to last year. “We have now gathered many contributions and suggestions and have adapted some parts of the text by taking into account EU enlargement to 10 new members explained the French Msgr. Hippolyte Simon -. It is important to find a shared memory, on which to found our common destinies and rediscover mutual forgiveness and reconciliation to heal the wounds that scar the history of the continent”. The final version of the document should be approved during the COMECE session in March. THE ROLE OF CATHOLICS IN THE 10 NEW MEMBER STATES. Msgr. Antòn Stres (Slovenia), to whom was assigned the task of summing up the situation of the Episcopal Conferences in the ten new accession countries, observed: “The majority of these countries had a Communist past. Religious life was hard hit by recent history, but today the Christian presence is significant. In many cases the contribution of Catholics was essential in embarking on the road joining the Union” and in completing a process that “we prefer to define as the reunification of the continent”. Stres then confirmed “the commitment of believers to promoting a Europe of peace and rights, in which the ethical and religious dimension also has a civil and social impact”. The Dutch Bishop Adrianus van Luyn reviewed, in turn, the political aspects of integration and relations with Turkey and the USA. “The EU today he commented is experiencing a multicultural situation. For this reason we need to aim at a real integration between the ‘diversities’ that characterise the Europe of our time, with a responsible dialogue”. The “principle of tolerance”, also in the religious field, will represent an antidote “to any form of violence and injustice”.
