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The need for “the peculiar identity, rights and role of the Churches, to be clearly recognized, in the sign of freedom and reciprocal collaboration between religious and civil institutions”, was reaffirmed by the president of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), Cardinal Camillo Ruini, during the meeting held in Rome between the representatives of the Christian Churches of Europe and the President of the Council of the European Union, Silvio Berlusconi, on 14 October. According to Ruini, the proposition of the draft Constitutional Treaty on this point (art. 51) “represents a delicate compromise, any modifications of which would be unfounded and unacceptable”. The meeting was one of the regular meetings that the “Church and Society” Commission of the Conference of the European Church (KEK) an ecumenical body regrouping 126 Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican Churches in Europe and the Commission of the (Catholic) Episcopal Conferences of the European Community (COMECE) have twice a year with the revolving presidency of the European Union. Apart from Cardinal Ruini, the meeting was attended by (among others) the bishops Giuseppe Betori, CEI general secretary; Giuseppe Merisi, CEI delegate to COMECE; and Msgr. Noel Treanor, general secretary of COMECE. KEK was represented by Federico Giovanni Long, president of the Federation of Evangelical Churches (FEC); the chairman of the “Church and Society” Commission, Rüdiger Noll; and the Orthodox archimandrite Gregorios Stergiou. Repeating the hope that space would be found in the Preamble to the above-mentioned Treaty for a specific recognition of the Christian roots of Europe, Ruini recalled the importance of the principle of subsidiarity, necessary he said for an effective participation of the peoples of Europe in the process of the construction of Europe. Long then reaffirmed the commitment of the European Churches “to supporting the promotion of policies for human rights and the importance of legislative measures to safeguard religious liberty”. Tackling the current issues of ethics and bioethics, the representatives of the Churches expressed the hope that full respect for human life, especially when it is at its most vulnerable, i.e. at its beginning and its end, would be enshrined in European legislation. The church delegates also expressed the hope, albeit with a variety of different emphases, that the specific nature of the family founded on marriage would be safeguarded. They also recalled the commitment of the Churches in the field of immigration and the protection of refugees. In particular, they emphasised the need to reconcile the needs of security and legality with the ethics of rights and solidarity.
