Greece for Europe, Europe for Greece” “

Greece has assumed the presidency of the European Union for the first six months of 2003, in an international panorama characterized both by hopes and fears. During these six months, the Treaty for the enlargement of the Union will be signed and the foundations laid for the realization of its new structure. Nor will the commitment be lacking to prevent, as far as possible, a war in the Middle East. And it is with the Greek presidency that a pro-European climate is being breathed in Athens for the first time. The present government is making great efforts to overcome every anti-European pressure that wished to exclude the Greek citizen from the Union and even from the European culture based on the culture of classical Greece. There have been some Greek politicians and Orthodox representatives who, to prevent the country’s European alignment, also made accusations against the Catholic Church, considered one of the causes for the dismemberment and destruction of the former Yugoslavia and the war in Bosnia. Adducing such arguments, an important section of the Greek population considered as enemies all “Westerners” (confusing them with Catholics), who, although calling themselves “Christians”, had invaded and destroyed the Orthodox Yugoslavia and massacred an Orthodox people. The Pope’s visit as a pilgrim to Greece in May 2001 contributed a lot to changing this mentality. His presence and his discourses, that appealed to Greek culture, and to the Orthodox Church (the dominant, i.e. official, religion, according to the Constitution), helped to restore serenity to the climate. Thanks to this pastoral journey, moreover, many positions of the Catholic Church on fundamental questions of life and death were brought to the attention of a large part of the population and helped to dispel many prejudices about the Catholic Church and about Europe itself. Nonetheless, the fact is that in Greece today the religious freedom of non-Orthodox citizens is still not fully defended. During the last reform of the Greek Constitution (2001) no improvement in this respect was registered, also due to the undertaking made by the two main parties (Socialists and New Democracy) to the Orthodox Church not to vote for any liberal change. A law of 1930 imposed by the dictatorship of the time thus continues to defend the religious freedom of non-Orthodox citizens. One cannot speak of religious freedom, only of religious tolerance. The present government does not seem to have any desire to regulate also the question of the juridical personality of the Greek Catholic Church. A sentence of the Court in Strasbourg issued on 16 December 1996 ruled in favour of the Catholic Church, but the government has taken no steps to implement it, because it fears the opposition of the Orthodox Church. Jurists and professors, who in past supported the position of the Catholic Church in Greece and spoke of the possibility of its legal recognition as “juridical person of ecclesiastical right”, have now changed their position in order not to antagonize the Orthodox Church. Nor have cases been lacking in which leading political exponents have adopted a position against the Catholic Church: most recently, due to the law according to which a schoolteacher, who is a citizen of another EU country, would have the right to teach in a Greek elementary school, even if not of Orthodox faith. The youth who present themselves for military service continue to be subjected to a discriminatory law according to which those who don’t belong to the Orthodox Church are defined “M.O.X.” (= non Orthodox Christian). In several towns, moreover, certificates continue to be issued in which the religion of the person is specified, in spite of the contrary decision by the Commission for personal data. A “grass-roots ecumenism” is growing in Greece. It is spreading among the people who are beginning to reject taboos centuries old and are increasingly showing their support for brotherly co-existence in the spirit of a Europe without walls. And it is for this reason that the EU presidency recently assumed by Greece may be an occasion to write a new chapter in the country’s history.