Concerns about the growth of poverty and social exclusion in Europe have been expressed by Eurodiaconia and by the “Church and Society” Commission of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) in a letter to Jean-Claude Juncker, prime minister of Luxembourg, under whose presidency the spring Summit of the European Union was held from 21 to 23 March. In their letter the two European ecumenical organizations recall the so-called “Lisbon Strategy”: the EU Council, meeting in the Portuguese capital in 2000, had proposed for the next ten years the objective of economic growth that would produce more jobs and greater social cohesion. The Churches lament the fact that the EU has since removed from its priorities the achievement of greater social cohesion in the continent, aiming exclusively at increasing cost competitiveness and ignoring “the reality of 68 million people who are living in poverty within the European Union”. “Economic growth say the Churches ought not to be an end in itself, but serve wider interests”.
