“We welcome the decision to confer a clear mandate on an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) to realize an institutional reform of the EU”, comments the Commission of the episcopate of the European Community (COMECE), in expressing its satisfaction for the results of the European Council (Brussels, 21-22 June). On the project for a “reform treaty”, which “would modify the existing treaties”, the Commission of European Bishops points out that “the treaty on the European Union (EU Treaty, 1992) will keep its name”, whereas the “treaty instituting the European Community” (1950), will remain in force but be renamed “Treaty on the functioning of the Union”. “Together they symbolise that the maintenance of peace and the reinforcement of unity remain the main motors of European integration”. Though appreciating the maintenance of the paragraph in the preamble of the constitutional treaty that makes reference to the cultural and religious heritage of Europe, COMECE reaffirms: “It would be better for Europe if the treaty were to recognize in an explicit way that Christianity has formed and will continue to form its cultural and religious heritage”. The bishops also regard as positive the incorporation in the “EU Treaty” of the article of the constitutional treaty on the values of the Union, and “the integration of the article on the status of the Churches and religious communities in the Treaty on the functioning of the EU”; an article that, apart from “rooting a formal dialogue between the EU institutions and the Churches in the treaties, recognizes the specific contribution” made by the Churches in “ensuring that the Union respects and does not compromise the status of the Churches under national legislations”. The bishops also express satisfaction for the “global reinforcement of the role of national parliaments in the decision-making process” which will “increase subsidiarity” in the EU. The “mandate conferred on the IGC will also promote the embodiment of the principle of solidarity” on such issues “as energy and natural disaster relief”. Lastly, the bishops hope “that the IGC may complete its work by the end of this year” to permit “European citizens to have a clear view of the nature and objectives of the EU when it comes to electing the new European Parliament in June 2009”.
