On human dignity

For the third time since the present European Commission came into office, a meeting has been held between the President of the Commission José Manuel Barroso and some representatives of the Church and religious leaders. This meeting, chaired by Barroso, was held on 15 May and marked a new stage in the development of a dialogue at this level between the Churches, the religious communities and the European Union. The new factor was the participation of the current President of the European Council, Angela Merkel, and the President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering. It is expected that these meetings will continue, as confirmed by Angela Merkel and Hans-Gert Pöttering during the press conference at the end of the meeting. Another meeting at the same level is in fact planned to be held under the Slovak Presidency, in the first half of 2008.”A Europe built on human dignity” was the theme proposed for the meeting. It was not chosen by chance. Human dignity is in fact the paramount value of the European Union, enunciated in article 2 of the Constitutional Treaty. Article 1 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union also affirms the inviolability of human dignity and stipulates that it must be respected and protected. The participants were asked to study the question from three viewpoints: its implications for the internal policies of the Union, its consequences in the sectors of EU external policy and the role of tolerance as the key to the application of a system of values in a multicultural society. The presence of three Presidents and of the five members of the European Commission represented a recognition of the inability of policy by itself to produce values – or the inspiration necessary to give rise to values – on which the vitality both of policy and of society itself depends. The questions discussed by these leading exponents of the good government of Europe reveal the usefulness of consultation and dialogue with religious representatives.If for many this process at the level of the interface between religious faith and policy testifies to the development of the Union’s self-integration and the fact that numerous citizens welcome it, for others it is a source of doubts. Some, who have suffered in their recent history from the manipulation and violation of human rights and civil liberties, now fear the spectre of manipulation by the political world. Others, for whom religion should never stray from the strictly personal and private sphere, consider these discussions intolerable. The two tendencies must learn to rely on the framework of transparent dialogue furnished by the European project: a democratic system, supported by the rule of law, and a strong attachment to human values and transparency. These basic elements, as well as convinced support for the EU and the values defined in article 2 of the Treaty of 2004, leave no room for fears, doubts or suspicions. The new quality of European achievements, both at the methodological level and at that of the immense corpus of European policies, cannot but be a source of pride and hope for all Europeans. Yet the vigilance of everyone is clearly necessary for the pursuit of this qualitative development. The Churches and faith communities, recognizing the importance of European achievements, will proceed to a constructive and, if necessary, critical dialogue with the European Union at all possible levels to promote Community policies that favour and protect human dignity.