The Christian mark

Next year the citizens of the 28 EU Member States will be called to the polls to re-elect a new European Parliament. It is expected that for the first time since 1994 more than 50% of Europe’s citizens will cast their vote, since the financial crisis and the crisis of the euro zone have placed European issues at the top of accessible information via the mass media. This is good news, but it also implies the possibility of an increased polarization or even a radicalization of the debate. Christians and Churches should therefore seek to influence the election campaign focusing on two major avenues.Reasons for optimism The first Christian imprint that should be offered in the public debate is a form of optimism that refuses to paint everything black. In fact, in relation to euro zone crisis management, optimism is appropriate despite the slowness characterizing the decisions taken by European institutions after the outbreak of the crisis in October 2009. The Parliament, Commission, Council, namely the European institutions, have been able to react, under the guidance of Heads of State and Government in European Council meetings. The reform of the Stability and Growth Pact, the creation of the European Stability Mechanism to help eurozone states in difficulty along with the fiscal pact have been important steps towards fiscal union. The reform of the banking sector with the Bonus Cap, the establishment of European banking supervision and the ongoing negotiations for the harmonization of procedures with a view to restructuring the banking sector are concrete steps leading to banking union. Of course, this is still insufficient. In order to complete monetary union commitments for political and economic union are needed, but optimism is justified given the results obtained so far. This optimism is especially appropriate when accompanied by realism regarding the foundations of the European Union, which will naturally continue to evolve, but will no longer disappear. We must therefore focus the discussion on what kind of Europe we want. A debate on "Europe yes or no?" No longer makes sense. Forgiveness is possible Secondly, in this European election campaign Christians should convey the teachings of faith, which is to say that forgiveness and the remission of all types of debt are always possible. In a speech at the end of April, Angela Merkel stressed that competitiveness is not a goal in itself but an indispensable condition to generate the growth needed to finance the European social model. She added: "90% of world growth takes place outside of Europe, and if Europe is not able to export goods and services across its borders, we will not have enough growth". The German Chancellor is right, while the responsibility of each state to put in place structural reforms that allow the improvement of European competitiveness as a whole is out of the question. However, extraordinary times require extraordinary efforts of solidarity, to preserve social peace and the cohesion of European peoples. The Bible describes such moments as Jubilee years that include the remission of debts and the liberation of slaves. With over 25 percent of young Europeans unemployed, the extraordinary situation must prompt us to urge European policy makers to formulate and defend a historical compromise between the adoption of structural reforms and the easing of the burden of debt, which is suffocating an entire generation.