Citizens’ eyes on the EU” “

“ The Constitutional Treaty, signed by the twenty-five heads of state and of government of the European Union in Rome on 29 October 2004″, must “now be ratified in all member states”, and “whatever method is adopted for ratification”, it is important that “the text does not become the plaything or the victim of the agenda of a party or country, nor of a certain kind of political opportunism”, says NOËL TREANOR, general secretary of the Commission of the episcopates of the European Community (COMECE), in the editorial of the November number of “Europe Infos”, monthly of COMECE and the Catholic Office of Information and Initiative for Europe (OCIPE), of which Treanor is editor in chief. “The Constitutional Treaty has nothing revolutionary about it – continues the secretary of COMECE – since it derives from the existing treaties”; nonetheless “the process of ratification must serve to refocus the eyes of citizens on that unique political realization that is the European Union”. Apart from some passages from the editorial we present some of the issues discussed in the periodical. TREATY AND EUROPEAN CITIZENS. According to Treanor, a “wide-ranging public debate” is needed, not only to inform citizens on the content and importance of the Treaty, but also to bring home to them the miracle that Europe represents”. “The European project – continues the editorial – has established peace between the nations, created a single market and organized the distribution of resources and riches among the various member countries, but it has also given rise to political institutions able to realise this project”. It has placed itself at the service not only “of the political integration between states, but also of the common European good”. “Some dioceses and ecclesial organizations intend to promote the debate on the European identity and values with meetings and publications – concludes Treanor -; these are initiatives to be given a positive welcome and to be imitated. EUTHANASIA. “The creation of centres for palliative treatment, specific training for nursing staff and the possibility of therapies at home” are among the main contents of the new report, which, at the request of the Commission of social questions of the Council of Europe, should be presented by the rapporteur Dick Marty by 27 April 2005. After the last report, presented by the same rapporteur and dated April 2004, the debate on euthanasia, according to KATHARINA SCHAUER, has entered its second phase in the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe. “The new report – she observes – also recommends the drawing up of ethical codes for physicians with a view to preventing therapeutic persistence and maintaining the patient alive at all costs”. But it also urges “the governments of member states to reflect on the hypothesis of depenalising euthanasia” in the case of “the patient requesting it”. Schauer underlines the risks of “determining the ‘presumed will’ of the patient on the basis of his written consent or through the shortcut of a ‘therapeutic representative’; the latter is a solution that “could encourage someone to arrogate to himself the right to decide whether or not the life of a human being is still worth being lived”. A serious reflection is also needed, in Schauer’s view, “on illness and death”, as also “on the limits of exclusively technical and medical responses” and on how to “accompany” the terminally ill who often find themselves in conditions of inhumane solitude”. BETWEEN EAST AND WEST. “The relations between the European Union and Asia seem healthy, solid and destined to develop further”, says CLARE COFFEY commenting on the 5th EU-Asia Assembly held in Hanoi (Vietnam) in October and attended by the delegates of 39 European and Asian countries. “The EU recognises the incontestable need to adopt a policy of partnership and strategic dialogue with Asia”, a continent in “full economic and political expansion at the international level”. “The 1990s – observes Coffey – signified the opening of a new era for international diplomacy, for trade and cooperation”, and ever since then the European Commission had affirmed “the need to ‘modernise’ the relations of the EU with Asia through a specific “strategic framework”. “Reinforcing trade flows and mutual investments, contributing effectively to reduce the poverty of the region (where two thirds of the poor of the world are to be found: 800 million people who live on less than a dollar a day)”, and promoting in the Asian continent “the spread of democracy, good governance and the rule of law”, are the main objectives of this policy of cooperation. At the present time 30% of the aid allocated to Asia comes from the EU.