The work of the century?” “

“It’s not a masterpiece”, but it is “a result that needs to be turned to account” through national ratification, to enable it to come into force. Bernhard Vogel has chaired the Konrad Adenauer Foundation since 2001, after having already headed it in the period 1989-1995. Born in Göttingen 72 years ago, he has behind him studies in political science, economics, history and sociology. He has also been awarded various honorary degrees. Member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he had filled important posts at the parliamentary level and in regional governments in Germany (Rhineland-Palatinate, Thuringia). He has also been chairman of the Central Committee of German Catholics. His more recent publications include “The Euro. A common currency for a common future” (2002) and “Religion and Politics” (2003). He agreed to be interviewed by Gianni Borsa, SIR correspondent for European questions, and to comment on the text of the Constitutional Treaty, signed in Rome on 29 October 2004. The European Union finally has a Constitution. What are its pros and cons? “It is not a Constitution in the classic sense of the term; we should call it a Constitutional Treaty instead. The autonomy of the 25 member states is not weakened. The most important factor is that the inviolability of the dignity of man is explicitly enunciated in the Treaty. Moreover, other passages of the text provide the proof that it is based on the Greco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian tradition on which the European states were built. Equally important is the fact that the European institutions are not endowed with universal powers; in the event of them overstepping their powers, member states maintain the right to appeal to the European Court of Justice”. May the Treaty help the process of integration, begun half a century ago, which led to the birth first of the EEC and now the EU? “Yes, absolutely. It reveals an extraordinary importance in terms of the future course of integration. That said, the result obtained cannot be considered ‘the work of the century’. The text is too complicated and too long. However, we need to appreciate the fact that, in spite of everything, a Treaty has been achieved at all. That in itself represents enormous progress. It is the reason why we are called to approve it, in spite of the existence of some limitations and drawbacks”. There is no reference in the new Treaty to the Christian roots of Europe, a much-discussed theme and particularly close to the heart of John Paul II… “That the Treaty does not contain any reference to God seems to me a serious shortcoming. In my view, at least the formula established in the Polish Constitution would have met with general consent. Calling on Europe to profess its faith in God will remain our objective and we ought not to weaken our efforts to achieve it”. Konrad Adenauer is one of the “fathers” of united Europe. What is his legacy for the Twenty-Five? “Adenauer is one of the founding fathers of the European Community together with Alcide De Gasperi and Robert Schuman. We owe it to them if Europe today vindicates the principle of unity in diversity, maintaining its foundation in Greek philosophy and Roman law, and if it is characterized both by its reference to the Christian and Jewish God, and by the heritage of the Enlightenment. To all this we should add the experiences we have shared together in the course of two millennia, including the experiences of faith, marked and reinforced by shared sufferings”. Fact File The Konrad Adenauer Stiftung bears the name of the German statesman, who was born in Cologne in 1876 and died in Rhondhorf in 1967. An activist in the Catholic Party of the Zentrum, he was elected Mayor of Cologne in 1917. After the rise of the Nazi Party, he was forced to retire from political life and in the period 1933-44 became familiar with the prisons of the Hitler regime. In 1945 he returned to the political scene, participating in the foundation of the CDU, the party of the Christian Democrats of West Germany; he speedily rose to become its leader. In 1949 he became the first Chancellor of the newborn Federal Republic of Germany, a post he maintained till 1963. He steered Germany’s post-war reconstruction and worked tirelessly for the internal consolidation of democracy and Germany’s re-insertion in the international community. Between 1951 and 1955 he also served as German Foreign Minister. A convinced Europeanist, he led his country to join the ECSC and the EEC. He supported the need for Western European states to draw closer together, not only as an anti-Soviet bulwark, but also in the conviction of common historical and cultural roots.