The deadline fixed by the Convention for the future of Europe for the sending of contributions by non-governmental bodies expired on 15 April 2002. On 12, 13, 17 and 18 June, the associations, the NGOs and the local and regional authorities will participate in the work groups of the Presidium of the Convention and on 24 and 25 June they will be given a hearing during the Convention’s plenary assembly. In preparation for these meetings, the Sturzo Institute in Rome has drafted a contribution of its own. In particular, it proposes the incorporation of the following text in the preamble to the future constitutional Treaty of Europe: “Also recalling the traditions of the European peoples, rooted in religious and cultural ties that have contributed, over the centuries, to creating constitutional laws inspired by reciprocal tolerance, social solidarity, co-existence between different ethnic groups, religions and cultures, the primacy of the values of the person and of communities, secular status and democracy”. The proposal, explains the work group that drafted the text, composed of historians, jurists and diplomats, “is aimed at recalling some constants of the traditions and history of the European peoples, by referring to various religious and cultural components, particularly those of Christian stamp, in which are rooted values and social mores shared and already absorbed by the culture and the constitutional law of the European states”. In particular the Sturzo Institute emphasizes that “the reference to religions is proposed in the plural and not in any exclusive way, while at the same time recognizing that there was a Christian history at the origins of Europe”. The principles enunciated in the text are also inspired “by the European religious traditions to which reference is made reciprocal tolerance, social solidarity, co-existence between different ethnic groups, religious and cultures, primacy of the values of the person and of communities and all converge on the objective of the social cohesion pursued by the European Union”. The involvement of religions, therefore, may contribute to the development of “social cohesion” and to the containment of “fundamentalist tendencies and conflictural pressures”.
