Germany’s run-up

In Germany signatures are being collected for One of Us, while the country’s federal elections are upcoming. The European citizens’ initiative for the protection of life in all fields of action of the European Union is supported by a large number of movements and associations. Nonetheless, the national quorum has not been reached yet. The president of the One of Us committee for Germany, professor Manfred Spieker, analysed with Massimo Lavena for SIR Europe, the problems and the future prospects of the project, with a view to the final run-up for endorsements. Prof. Spieker, Professor emeritus of Christian Social Sciences at Osnabrück University, is the author of several books on the right to life. Professor, what has been the German populations’ response to the signature collection for One of Us? “In Germany we experienced a certain amount of difficulty in gathering the populations’ support to the European civic initiative One of Us, whose required national quorum is 75 thousand signatures. In fact, in mid-August only 60% of the final goal had been reached. Still, I am confident that by the final deadline, set at the end of October, we will have hit the target. Moreover, each signature builds up to reaching the final target of one million signatures on European scale. The validity of the initiative doesn’t depend on the fact that all EU 28 countries reach the expected quorum. A total of one million signatures must be collected, and the quorum (provided for in a EU regulation – Ed.’s note) is needed in at least seven countries. The latter requisite has already been reached in Austria, Italy, Spain, Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Slovakia, Romania and France. An important factor that has contributed to reaching the quorum is connected to the fact in these countries, along with the statements of Pope Benedict and Francis, also the national bishops’ conferences publically supported the campaign”. In your opinion which theme deserves particular emphasis in the continuation of the awareness campaign? “The One of Us campaign is linked to the ruling of the European Court of Justice of October 2011, enforceable across all EU States, on the non-patentability of inventions which entail the destruction of human embryos or the use of human embryonic stem cells. The purpose of the campaign is to raise awareness about the fact that also the embryo is a voice: the embryo is ‘one of us’, and not only governments but each and every person, every citizen, is under the obligation to protect human life”.Who has supported One of Us in Germany?  “Several organizations have publically endorsed the campaign. These include: the Federal Association Lebensrecht and its thirteen member organizations, which include the Association of Jurists and Christian-Democrats for Life, the Order of Malta, the Association of Catholics in economic and administration, the Community of Labour of Catholic student associations, the Evangelical alliance, the Christian Youth Association and the Army of Salvation… the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZDK) has recommended to its member organizations -over 100 – to favourably  consider the initiative”. What may have been the difficulties in the signature collection? “Difficulties mostly regard the fact that the theme of the defence of life is considered taboo for German society and political parties alike. To the success of the campaign contributes also the open support of the German Bishops’ Conference, following the example of many Bishops’ Conferences. Who knows whether the autumn plenary of the bishops, at the end of September, a statement of support will be released”.Germany’s federal elections are drawing close. What has been the impact of One of Us to this regard? How much attention have political parties devoted to this issue?  “The One of Us initiative is not being acknowledged in the electoral campaign, nor is it present in the positions of the political parties represented to date at the Bundestag, and sadly so. This is true also for the so-called ‘Christian’ parties, i.e. CDU and CSU, although a number of Christian-Democrat politicians support the campaign.  Attention towards questions regarding the protection of life is to be found only in some small, unfortunately divided political parties that have no chances of success”.