Europe and the ratification of the European Constitution are focal points of comments in the German press. Writing in the Frankfurter Rundschau (27/4), Brigitte Kols analyses the “ European dream” and comments “ EU enlargement is a project in the best European tradition: integration to guarantee peace and with the objective of social stability. This stability, however, is threatened, since the process of enlargement divides the winners from the losers due to social imbalances and globalization in which China and India are making their entry as powerful economic forces. In this situation, both the supporters and opponents of Europe look to the European Constitution as a lightning conductor”. However, “ Both fronts expect too much of the Constitution. It cannot say the final word on all the problems of Europe, since it was not drawn up for one State but to offer a normative framework for 25 countries. Without blocking opportunities for the future, it does not annul the national states“. In another German daily Die Welt, Matthias Kamann points out: “ Those who make pro-European propaganda today, must satisfy increasingly strong national needs. While the peaceful union of the continent is still considered highly positive, Brussels is slowly becoming a tool at the service of the various national interests more than a value in itself. And so, in France and in Germany, the EU is accepted only as a mere agency of power and social protection, while in England it must represent exactly the opposite. This ‘re-nationalization’ of Europe ought not to be damaging so long as it remains linked to a willingness for cooperation“. According to the editor in chief of the French Catholic daily La Croix (27/04), Bruno Frappat, the debate that is developing in France on the new European Constitution is a “virtual battle ground”. His editorial explains the matter as follows: “ An invisible battle is being developed on the Internet between those in favour of ‘yes’ and those in favour of no’ to the referendum on the European Constitutional Treaty on 29 May … documents are exchanged, analyses of the text of the Constitution are being shot down with counter-analyses. The ‘true’ and the ‘false’ are pitted against each other“. “ The complexity of the Treaty“ continues Frappat reflecting “ the most complex institutional machine in the history of political institutions, is one of the main causes of embarrassment on the part of the undecided, who are numerous. They have a fine civil conscience as if to say professional conscience and they want to properly understand on what exactly they are being called to decide. They seek, examine, weigh up the pros and cons, to be able to come to a decision on the day of the vote”. “‘ The Church is alive’, proclaims the new Pope” is the headline in the International Herald Tribune (25/04) in reporting on the day of Benedict XVI’s enthronement. In his comment Daniel J. Walkin remarks that “ on the opening of his homily he used the type of language often heard in public speeches by cardinals after the death of John Paul II. Before his election, when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Benedict described John Paul II as ‘looking down at us from the window of the house of the Father’. Many in the throng that attended his funeral chanted for the recognition of his sainthood and accounts of the miracles attributable to him had already begun to circulate“. The paper emphasizes other elements that the two pontiffs have in common: “ Their lives were inextricably linked and their biographies ran in parallel. Both came from the heart of Europe and had reached adulthood under Nazi rule. The populations of Eastern Germany and Poland both fell behind the Iron Curtain. Both Wojtyla and Ratzinger were young experts called to participate in the drafting of the documents of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council”. Three days later the same paper (28/04), referring to Benedict XVI’s first Wednesday general audience, made the point that “ though liberal Catholics have often criticized Ratzinger for opinions they call ‘hardline’ and ‘divisive’, in his first eight days as Pope, Benedict repeatedly threw bridges to the Jews, the Moslems, the Orthodox Christians and the other Christian confessions, and spoke of his ‘reign’ as a post at the service of human rights”. Writing in the Spanish daily El Pais (26/04), Enric Gonzales emphasises that “ the audience of Benedict XVI with his compatriots, almost all of them Bavarians, showed a Ratzinger more relaxed than in previous days“. Presenting some of the more problematic aspects that the new Pope will have to tackle, the journalist cites the Holy See’s relations with Moscow: “ The Patriarch of Moscow, Alexis II, spiritual head of Russian Orthodox Christians, praised the ‘conservatism’ of the new Pope after the meeting. ‘Benedict XVI is a conservative and it seems to me we can have common commitments and objectives’, he declared. ‘With us too homosexual marriages, homosexuality and the female priesthood are unacceptable“. ———————————————————————————————————– Sir Europa (English) N.ro assoluto : 1384 N.ro relativo : 33 Data pubblicazione : 29/04/05
