Ecumenism" "
“The European Churches are important partners in the dialogue on values within the European Union”, said Jean-Arnold de Clermont, president of the Conference of Christian Churches (CEC), following his meeting with the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso in Brussels on 7 November. De Clermont was accompanied by a CEC delegation. “The President of the European Commission said Heider Rottwilm, head of the European department of the Evangelical Church of Germany (EKD) expressed his appreciation of the role that the Churches are playing in favour of the vulnerable, in particular refugees and minorities, and said he was sure that the CEC would continue to dedicate itself to countering the tendencies of exclusion and xenophobia”. During the meeting discussion also focused on the question of Turkey’s membership of the EU. The representatives of the CEC emphasised in this regard that “respect for human rights and religious freedom must be considered as essential conditions” and recalled a report on the “unacceptable conditions” in which the Christian churches and the non-Islamic communities have to live in Turkey: “their existence is limited and often threatened”.
