“We met to discuss what lies at the heart of the European project: the efforts for peace, reconciliation and cooperation. Together we must develop a vision of Europe that is not based exclusively on economic competitiveness, but that is a vision of human dignity, solidarity and justice, not only for Europe but for the whole world”, said Pastor Jean-Arnold de Clermont, President of the Conference of European Churches (CEC), at the end of the meeting between the various exponents of the political and religious institutions of the continent held in Brussels in recent weeks. The meeting was attended, among others, by the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, the Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, current President of the European Council, the Rev. Richard Chartres, Anglican bishop of London, and, exceptionally, the Dalai Lama, in Belgium for a series of visits to European Buddhist communities. The representatives of the CEC (an association of 125 Churches of Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox and Old Catholic tradition from all the countries of the continent, plus 40 associated organizations) used the occasion to remind Barroso and Schüssel of the vital role of the Churches in the future of Europe and the process that is leading to the Third European Ecumenical Assembly (EEA3), due to be held in Sibiu (Romania) in September 2007.
