Immigration and defence” “

“In Karol Wojtyla God and man were inseparable. This research into man through God was at the basis of his interest in his fellowmen and their social conditions, and made him conscious of the fragility of man himself. In this sense I think John Paul II can be defined as a ‘man of God’, a title of honour to which only great personalities in the history of the Church have had a right”. That’s how Bishop JOSEPH HOMEYER, president of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (Comece), recalls Karol Wojtyla in the May number of “Europe infos”, monthly of Comece and the Catholic Office for Information and Initiative for Europe (Ocipe). CLEAR-SIGHTED AND PROPHETIC. John Paul II was “a formidable gift to the Church, to ecumenism and to the whole world”, according to Bishop Homeyer. “A man of vision, he demanded the reorganization of Europe and tirelessly repeated that the construction of European civilization ought to be based on the recognition of the fundamental and inalienable dignity and rights of man… His eloquent image of a Europe that breathes with both lungs, both from the religious and from the cultural and political point of view, will always remain lodged in my memory”, continues the Comece President, who describes a personal meeting: that of his first meeting with the then archbishop of Krakow in 1972. Monsignor Homeyer, who had just been appointed secretary of the German Bishops’ Conference, had the opportunity to accompany the then archbishop of Munich and Freising, Cardinal Julius Döpfner on a visit to Poland. On that occasion, Homeyer recalls, Cardinal Wojtyla declared that “the Polish Church, strongly reliant on its clergy, had much to learn from the German Church”, distinguished by the involvement of “responsible and able laypeople”. Homeyer continues: for the archbishop of Krakow, “Communism was only an ephemeral phenomenon and therefore it was necessary to reflect on the form that the Church could assume in a post-Communist world. Only a few decades later – comments the President of COMECE – we understood how clear-sighted, almost prophetic this man was”. IMMIGRATION AND INTEGRATION. The integration of immigrants in the EU is essential for immigrants themselves, but also for society as a whole”. That’s why there is a need, in the view of CLARA COFFEY, for “the European Commission to present proposals for the application of the ten basic common principles for the integration of immigrants, adopted by the programme of The Hague in November 2004”. These principles “recognize the roles and responsibilities of immigrants” and “identify the essential role of employment and education in the process of integration – says Coffey -, as well as the importance of respect for the fundamental values of the EU, and knowledge of the language, laws and traditions of the host society”. Integration, in the view of the journalist, “cannot be left to its own devices, nor imposed”. Therefore, “in spite of resistance and incomprehension, the Commission must devote attention to these policies conceived for the good of everyone and play a leading role”, taking due account of “the various levels in which they can be put into practice”. DEFENCE POLICY. “The European Union is resolutely advancing towards an ever-more structured system of defence”; it is “no longer exclusively military in nature and, at the same time, the military means are not only linked to armed threats”, says MARC DE GEYER, with reference to the recent informal summit of Ministers of Defence of the member states with Javier Solana, EU high representative for security policy. The innovations that emerged from the meeting included “tactical regroupings”, multinational troops placed at the disposal of the EU, and, especially, underlines De Geyer, “some points that might seem unusual in terms of defence”. They include, with specific reference to the Balkans, “the need to reinforce civil – and not military – commitment in the fields of internal security and respect for human rights. This is a significant trend, as a result of which the borderline between ‘civil’ and ‘military’ is tending to become blurred”. It is a trend, continues De Geyer, also demonstrated by the “intention to associate the military presence with the prospect of the EU accession of Bosnia-Herzegovina”. De Geyer also points out that “for some time NATO and the EU have been making efforts of coordination that seem to be producing positive results”, in particular in the field of terrorism. “Defence is but one component of anti-terrorism policy that is largely based on measures of internal security”: that is the conviction that emerged from the summit, during which, continues De Geyer, “other issues were also discussed, such as the crisis in Darfur and the tragedy of the tsunami”; fields in which “the importance of complementarity between military aid and cooperation in development was emphasized”. The need was further underlined “to improve communication between European defence and citizens, so that they know how the Union is using its own military means”.———————————————————————————————————– Sir Europa (English) N.ro assoluto : 1393 N.ro relativo : 42 Data pubblicazione : 03/06/05