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Sustainable economic growth, social reforms, common foreign and security policy: these are the main challenges that the “new” European Union is called to tackle, according to the editorial in the June number of “Europe infos”, the monthly of the Commission of the episcopates of the European Community (COMECE) and the Catholic Office of Information and Initiative for Europe (OCIPE). Signed by NOËL TREANOR , general secretary of COMECE and director of the review, and by senior editor JAN KERKHOFS , the editorial also underlines the need to begin the dialogue of the institutions with civil society and with the Churches, called for by the Constitutional Treaty. CHALLENGES AND PRIORITIES. Following the elections for the renewal of the Parliament in Strasbourg (10-13 June) and the summit in Brussels (17-18 June), the European Union must “in the first place ensure sustainable economic growth and make the necessary social reforms, while maintaining the ‘European social model’ of solidarity with the more vulnerable”, says the editorial. The second challenge concerns “the revival of a common foreign policy”, bearing in mind that “in trade agreements, in the campaign against terrorism, in peace processes and in cooperation in development, the influence of the European countries depends on their capacity to unite their own forces and speak with a single voice”. According to the authors of the editorial, the horizon of our commitment ought to be that of “a world society founded on the rule of law and on respect for all human rights”. Today, they remark, “peace in the world is closely linked to peace at home”; hence the urgent need for “member states to assume their responsibility for the integration of immigrants and the reception of asylum seekers”. Since these are challenges that cannot be tackled by countries at the individual level, nor by governments alone, “the Constitutional Treaty contains two articles on dialogue: no.46 with civil society and no. 51 with the Churches and religions” with a view to “providing a space in which the political authorities can inform themselves of other points of view and develop legislative responses geared to the challenges of contemporary societies”. Translating these provisions into practice, concludes the editorial, “ought to be a priority in the agenda of the new Union”. EUROPEAN AGENCY FOR IMMIGRATION. The process of globalization and the enlargement of the European Union “will not be without consequences for migratory flows or for the characteristics of immigration”. That’s why it is “vital to reinforce cooperation on the question” with a view to “improving the management of regular immigration and the integration of migrants” and, at the same time, “curbing clandestine immigration and criminal activities”. That is the position of the parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe reported by JOSEPH RABER, who emphasises the importance of “closer cooperation to ensure the gathering, processing and diffusion of data on immigration”. This cooperation “could also include the formulation and implementation of information campaigns aimed at discouraging clandestine immigration”. Meanwhile the European Union, continues Raber, “has created a network of national contact centres which could be extended, for specific objectives, also to non-member states under the aegis of the Council of Europe”. Rader also recalls that Tadeusz Iwinski, former chairman of the Council of Europe’s Committee for migrants and refugees, recently proposed “the creation of a European watchdog or agency for immigration with the aim of preparing the debates of general policy and acting as a clearing house for information and data”. GENETIC TESTS ON MAN. According to a study of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, presented on the occasion of a conference recently promoted by the Commission itself in Brussels, over 700,000 genetic tests were conducted on man within the Union in 2002, with an increase of 100% in some member countries and a business turnover estimated at 500 million euros. The study’s findings are analysed by KATHARINA SCHAUER, who is convinced of the need for “a responsible use” of the tests which, whether diagnostic or predictive, have now become standard practice in clinical laboratories and are giving rise to great hopes in view of the new prospects for prevention or treatment” they open up, but which, at the same time, are raising serious “ethical, social and legal questions”. In Schauer’s view, it is not enough to “promote information on the question and the patient’s right of self-determination”, nor even to “ensure the quality control of the tests, the soundness of the results, the protection of genetic data” and the rejection of any discrimination based on them, though this is the direction in which European policies in this field would seem to be heading”. “Genetic tests concludes Katherina Schauer concern us all and a public debate on their repercussions on society and on individuals is indispensable” to prevent the risk of “a boundless faith in genetics prompting some to wish to read their own destiny in their genes”.
