In brief" "
In a solemn celebration in Paris on 22 January, France and Germany commemorated the 40th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty, signed by De Gaulle and Adenauer in 1963 to sanction a closer union between the two States after centuries of wars and conflicts. The solemnity of the celebrations, however, did not prevent French president Jacques Chirac and German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder from adopting a strong position on the international crisis. They reiterated that both states have reached “an identical judgement” on a possible war against Iraq; that “the decisions are incumbent on the Security Council, after having listened to the weapons inspectors”, and that “war is always the worst solution”. “What most struck me comments Father Marc Feix, chaplain at the CEAS (Centre of Social Action) and episcopal delegate for European affairs of the diocese of Strasbourg is especially the negative and immediate reaction of the United States to the declarations of Schroeder and Chirac. Europe has finally made its voice heard loudly and clearly and is perhaps beginning to place in question the USA’s claim to act alone”. The British reaction was also immediate: from London Tony Blair made it clear that Great Britain is ready to intervene without the OK of the UNO. “Great Britain comments Father Feix is proceeding along a separate road and has always demonstrated, also through the declarations of its prime minister, the country’s intention to follow the positions of the USA through thick and thin. That means that there is a divergence of view between the member states of Europe that needs to be overcome”. The Christian Churches also entered the debate on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty: in a joint communiqué, the presidents of the Episcopal Conferences of France and Germany, Archbishop Jean-Pierre Ricard and Cardinal Karl Lehman invited their respective governments to play a “guiding role in the European Union”. From Christianity they write Europe has inherited values such as “the inviolability of human dignity, the recognition of freedom and the promotion of solidarity and justice”. “It is these values says the joint message that have inspired the model of European society and it is on their basis that we can best continue the process of integration”. The central Committee of German Catholics (Zdk) and the Social Weeks of France (Ssf) have put out a joint statement in which they ask that the future European Constitution express “the will of the Europeans to live in peace”.
