10,000 participants from the various European countries, over 100 Christian movements and communities, civil and religious personalities, meetings in the main cities throughout Europe, with thousands of participants in special satellite link ups: these are the estimated figures for the meeting “Together for Europe” due to be held in Stuttgart in Germany on 8 May 2004. On the eve of the Festival of Europe and just a few days after the entry into the Union of ten new states, the meeting will form one of a whole series of events being planned in preparation for World Youth Day, due to be held in Cologne, again in Germany, in 2005. Promoted by the association of the same name, “Together for Europe”, of which Evangelicals, Catholics, Orthodox and Anglicans form part, the meeting explains its website – is aimed at rendering “visible the unity of Europe in its multiplicity, from which new impulses for social, political and cultural life may emerge. It thus intends to help “give a soul” to the process of integration, so that Europe may realize the clear “vocation” enshrined in the project of the founding fathers: a family of united peoples and reconciled nations, dedicated to the construction of the unity of the whole human family”. The programme includes interventions by the founders and leaders of Christian movements and communities, exponents of politics and of the Churches, and representatives of the young themselves, who will spell out the kind of future Europe they want and what commitments they are willing to shoulder. The contributions of the movements and communities for peace, the family, and for the disadvantaged will also be presented.
