Europe land of freedom” “An asset to be nurtured

The informal European Council of February 12 in Brussels took place four weeks after the attacks in Paris, two days before those in Copenhagen, and three days prior to the beheading of twenty-one Egyptian Copts in Libya and the desecration of over one hundred Jewish tombs in Alsatia, signalling that Islamic fundamentalist terrorism is not bound to disappear from Europe overnight.Our heads of Government and State have issued a statement after their meeting, but it would be irresponsible to assume that the package of measures announced in the document will put an end to this threat. The malaise has deeper roots. Despite the efforts the strengthen cooperation of judicial and police authorities, to improve the coordination of intelligence and to step up external borders surveillance of the Schengen area, in all likelihood we will first have to learn to live with the horrors of Islamist, anti-Semitic violence amidst us. Secondly, we should be aware of the fact that the number of victims of terrorism is much higher outside the European Union, especially among religious minorities, Christian in particular, in the Middle and Near East and in the Mediterranean region. What is happening in Libya is a confirmation of it.It is therefore necessary to stress that the killers of Paris and Copenhagen did not arrive from outside the Country. They grew up with us, attended our schools with satisfying, if not good, results. They appeared to be perfectly integrated. However – as recently underlined by philosopher Fabrice Hadjadj – "they have integrated into nothing, and that’s why they ended up being subjected to an Islam that was not only an answer to this void but also a continuity with this void, with its logic of global eradication, loss of transmission of the family, technical improvement of bodies to be transformed into super-tools connected to a soulless device…".Thus the question that should be addressed not only by European political leaders but also by all of us is: what future prospect can we offer to our youths? And what is the meaning we wish to convey to their lives?Before this collective mission, the suggestion in the statement of the members of the European Council "to define communication strategies aimed at promoting tolerance, non-discrimination, fundamental values and solidarity across the EU, especially through inter-faith and inter-community dialogue", sound empty and patched-up.In the same way, questions could be raised on the good intentions of "cooperating with our partners at international level", contained in the final document of the summit. What is the meaning of "establishing a dialogue between cultures and civilizations to jointly promote fundamental values" if in the same document our heads of Government and State don’t have the courage to express their concern for religious minorities, notably Christian, in the Middle and Near East?We don’t know them, while they are killed or expelled from their countries of origin. We don’t know them, while these minorities would be the best actors of a mediation policy. We don’t know, or rather we know too little of the Nestorians who insist on the human nature of Christ; the Miaphisites, who instead underline His divine nature; the Egyptian Copts, contrary to the doctrine of Chalcedon of 451, which affirms that Christ is fully a man and fully a God; the anti-Chalcedon in Syria, today called Syriacs; the Assyrian-Chaldeans in Iraq near the Nestorians; the Armenians, the faithful of the Maronite Church in Lebanon that proclaim the two natures of Christ with one will, and finally the Melchite Christians of Byzantine rite that in the 18th century adhered to the Catholic Church.Europe is a land of freedom. Millions of men and women, often very young, have testified to it after the attacks in Europe. However, to preserve freedom, we should defend it not only through the police and justice. In order to preserve it we should also cultivate it by establishing a necessary balance between the freedom of expression and religious freedom. We cultivate it even if we take the freedom of being interested with one another and if we protect those who are a natural connection between the East and the West, namely, Eastern Christians.