ecumenism " "
The executive of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) and the Council of the Evangelic Church of Germany (EKD) agree on the “need for an explicit reference to the Christian roots of Europe in the constitutional treaty of the European Union”. This agreement emerged during the meeting of the CEC Executive held at the Evangelic Church in Hanover (Germany) in recent days. The ten members of the central committee, chaired by Jean-Arnold de Clermont, and vice-chairmen Archbishop Anastasius of Albania and Dean Margarethe Isberg (Sweden), met the EKD delegation and its chairman, Bishop Wolfang Huber during the meeting. Referring to the activity performed by the CEC’s Church and Society Commission with regard to the process of European integration, the CEC representatives emphasised the need for “the Churches to support the enlargement of the EU and turn the Christian voice into an essential component of its foundation”, so that the EU may “become a community of shared values, such as justice, peace and solidarity”. “That’s the reason why the insertion of a reference to the Christian roots of European culture in the new Constitution is of vital importance,” said de Clermont. The executive also began the process for selecting the new general secretary to succeed current secretary Keith Clements, due to retire at the end of 2005. Further issues on the agenda were the programme for the third European ecumenical assembly (Romania 2007) and some proposals for the “reshaping” of the ecumenical movement, including the structure of the CEC itself. These questions will be resumed during the next meeting of the central committee scheduled to be held in Prague from 27 September to 3 October 2004.
