Christians and the elections” “” “

“Participation in the European elections between 10 and 13 June” is “a vital act of European civic spirit”; “the responsible exercise” of the right to vote “will express our solidarity with the European project”. NOËL TREANOR, general secretary of the Commission of the episcopates of the European Union (COMECE) and director of “Europe Infos”, monthly of COMECE and of the Catholic Office of Information and Initiative for Europe (OCIPE), together with its editor in chief JAN KERKHOFS , recalls in his editorial to the March number of the bulletin the importance of a high voter turnout for the elections of the new Parliament in Strasbourg which, with enlargement, will be expanded from the current 626 to 732 seats. In response to the gradual decline in the rate of participation in the vote (from 63% in 1979, when the members of the European Parliament were elected for the first time by direct ballot of the citizens of the nine countries that then formed the European Community, to 49% in 1999), and bearing in mind the progressive expansion of the powers of the EP itself, Treanor underlines the importance of a “responsible parliamentary assembly, composed of members that pledge to work at the service of a European agenda in conformity with the treaties and the will of the political body”. The Churches and “their organizations at the local, regional and national level” are therefore urged to encourage “Christians to take an interest in these elections” since “the political composition of the European Parliament and the quality of each of its members will depend on the votes and abstentions”. Some of the other issues discussed in the bulletin are as follows. C CROATIA’S MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION. As the 1st May approaches, “the authorities in Brussels are already looking to the next wave of countries that will enter the EU from south-east Europe”, says JOHN COUGHLAN. Bulgaria and Romania, which began their membership negotiations several years ago, “hope to join the EU in 2007. And Croatia, which lodged its application only in February 2003, has every intention of joining them”. This acceleration, explains Coughlan, is due to various reasons, the most pressing of which is financial: “By acquiring the status of an official candidate country, Croatia could benefit from a part of the annual subsidy of over 3 billion euros that will be granted to Bulgaria and Romania from May onwards”. Croatia, continues Coughlan, “although differentiated from the other Balkan countries in terms of political stability and economic growth, must overcome four main obstacles if she wants to obtain from Brussels the hoped-for result”. In order: she must “settle the conflict over maritime frontiers with neighbouring Slovenia; defend the rights of her ethnic minorities, in particular the Serbs; improve cooperation with the International Court in The Hague; and increase the independence of her judicial system”. POLAND, COHESION AND SOLIDARITY’. Poland, due to enter the EU on 1st May, “wants a strong and cohesive Union”, says the ambassador JAN KULAKOWSKI who led the membership negotiations till 2000 (they were concluded in December 2002). “There’s been a lot of talk about differentiation in the pace of integration, or the creation of a European vanguard. Poland has never opposed this – he explains -, but the creation of a hard core, an inner circle reserved only to some States, is contrary to the necessary cohesion of Europe and the practice of solidarity that forms its foundation. In other words: reinforced cooperation open to everyone must be hailed, and a hard core rejected”. According to Kulakowski “the success of the enlarged Union will depend on the political will of everyone”; Europe in fact needs to “open itself to other countries and reinforce its cooperation not only with America but also with the poorer nations” because “solidarity must permit the Union to play a positive role in the management of globalization”. IDENTITY AND CULTURE. “Culture 2000” is the framework programme comprising the cultural activities of the European Commission; 167 million euros have been allocated to it in the period 2000-2004. The programme has now been prolonged by a further two years. In the view of MICHAEL KUHN, European cultural policy is faced by a twofold challenge: “the need to engage with different traditions” and “the need to reconcile the requests, sometimes contradictory, being made to its authorities”. In other words, “should the Commission promote regional projects” or should it rather “concentrate on the major cultural events that emphasise the European dimension of culture by fostering its ‘common denominator?'”. If “identity and culture are closely linked – concludes Kuhn -, and if the continent is seeking for its own identity because it aspires to be more than a mere economic community, and wants to preserve its own diversities while hoping for the creation of a common framework, it is essential, first of all, that Europe should seriously ask itself how this identity should be expressed and how much it is willing to invest in doing so”.