Africa on the front page

The May issue of “Europe Infos” devotes special attention to the situation in Northern Africa with the editorial by Frank Turner, published by SIR Europe (n.34/2011) and with the touching experiences of bishops from the Maghreb region. EU topical events, the COMECE spring plenary meeting and snapshots of specific social issues complete the publication.Transform mindsets. Arab spring: the focus is on the countries of the Maghreb. Over the past months Fr Christophe Roucou, director of the French Bishops’ Conference’s national service for relations with Islam, collected first-hand accounts by bishops living in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt. Speaking from Algeria, Msgr. Claude Rault, bishop of Laghouat-Gardhaïa, underlined: “although these rebellions have taken place in Arab countries, religious pressure from Islam is not the root cause of this explosion, which seems rather to have risen up from the deepest depths of human conscience, desperate for dignity, respect, justice and democracy”. He adds: “We have seen, in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, Muslims and Christians united in the same movement”. His words are echoed by the archbishop of Tunis Msgr. Maroun Lahham: “Is that threat real? Nobody can guarantee anything, but nothing is ruled out either. Let us wait and see. But as far as the life of the Church is concerned, there is no particular problem. We have seen for ourselves incredible scenes of solidarity and sharing. We have kept all these events in our prayers… We like this people, we respect their choices and we stand ready to help them”. The Algerians, explains Msgr. Claude Rault, “have suffered too much to want another large scale uprising. What they are hoping for is that the political and economic institutions, preferably less bureaucratic and entirely free of corruption, should get going to change society towards a kind of democracy that will not necessarily mirror that of France”. Msgr. Landel (Rabat, Morocco) launched an appeal to Christians in Europe: “When will Europe really provide effective aid to North Africa and to Africa in general? It is this distortion between your lifestyle in Europe and the way people live in Africa that is the root cause of everything that is happening now… You who know all about freedom, justice and dignity – how are you going to help us to live all that?”. He continues: “We are also aware that we ourselves are a meeting point, if you like, of Christians and Muslims. It is these meetings in real life that lead us towards welcome, esteem and love. I am really puzzled when I see how Muslims are feared in the West. How can we transform these mindsets?”.Work and family life. Work-family life balance is necessary to meet the demographic challenge, claimed the European Federation of Catholic Family Associations (FAFCE) in an appeal presented to the informal meeting of Ministers for Demography and Family Policy Issues held in Gödöllö, Hungary. “The recently published Demography Report 2010, shows that the EU fertility rate reached an average of 1.6 but still remaining below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman, although Europeans would prefer to have 2.3 children. There is therefore a gap between ‘fertility intentions’ and the actual number of children”, wrote FAFCE Secretary General Maria Hildingsson. Having identified the demographic issue as one of the major challenges in the EU today, the Hungarian EU Presidency organised an awareness week on demography and family policy issues in Budapest from 28th March to 3rd April 2011. The opening event was a conference on the Impact of Reconciliation of Work and Family Life on Demographic Dynamics. “Family policy falls within the national competency of EU Member States. Nevertheless, the EU itself has competencies permitting it to intervene in areas close to family policy” Hildingsson pointed out. “The Europe 2020 Strategy aims at smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, namely in the area of leave arrangements for mothers and fathers at the birth of their child. Putting the family first by applying ‘family mainstreaming’ is crucial if Europe wants to face the future with confidence”.Shared social responsibilities: new ways to enhance cohesion. The EU and the CoE extended their partnership on social issues in a Conference which took place in Brussels on March, 1st. “Promoting SSR is a useful attempt to foster social cohesion at a time when it is particularly tested in European society for a number of reasons that include the financial and economic crisis, a rising mistrust of the citizens towards “mainstream” political parties, with the collateral rise of nationalism and extremist movements and a growing lack of interest in representative democracy, a looming demographic crisis; and the issue of migration” highlighted Hervé Guillot. Three strategic lines were emphasised in order to foster SSR: “1. innovation and learning processes to develop competences and knowledge among all social actors” (namely, focusing on education); “2. the inclusion of all stakeholders, with their legitimate demands and expectations, as well as their specific contributions (consulting all stakeholders is the EU’s well-established practice); 3. the importance of deliberative processes to empower people and nurture confidence, with a specific focus on the local level” (notably, the European Citizenship Initiative).