Commitments for Europe

“The Churches urge the EU to undertake nuclear disarmament. The EU counts two nuclear weapons states and four ‘semi-nuclear weapons states’. It should recognize it is part of the problem and should assume its responsibility for nuclear disarmament”. The message to the Spanish EU Presidency and the new High Representative was released on March 12 by the Church and Society Commission of the Conference of European Churches (CSC-CEC) in view of the forthcoming Review Conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in New York on 3-28 May 2010. CEC addressed the issue past July in its General Assembly since, “It is contradictory to our deepest beliefs and convictions that security should rely on a readiness to destroy the world which God has entrusted to us”, they claim. While not relying exclusively on the role of US President Obama, “the EU Member States should assume an active role to keep the momentum and inject new vigour into it and fully endorse the new US policy toward ‘global zero’. The 10 March resolution by the European Parliament on non-proliferation provides an example to follow”.EU and regions. Cooperation between the EU and the various European regions is critical to the building of the European Home, since individuals identify with their own region. In October 2009 the Region Committee undertook a project aimed at ‘a EU strategy for the Danube Region. The proposal was adopted with an EP resolution past January 21st. In order to involve all those present in the Danube region, the European Commission opened a consultation attended also by CSC and COMECE. The document envisages a series of question on various themes such as intervention priorities and financing. The consultation will close next April 12. Migrations: combating workforce trafficking. The Church Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME) along with the Romanian ecumenical association AIDRom and in conjunction with Romania’s senate, organized past February 14-17 a public seminary attended by Church representatives, trade unions, parliament, NGOs and institutions from all over Europe on “Human trafficking for Labour Exploitation – civil society proposals to a growing challenge”. Both Romania’s Patriarch Daniel and the ministry of interiors Dan Fatoliou denounced the repeated “tragic exploitation of Romanian migrants”, states the final declaration. According to surveys carried out in the Czech Republic, Greece, Ireland and Italy the problem is not confined to Romanian migrants only. Moreover, all countries are involved. Agriculture, building, house-care, and the industry are the working sectors affected by this phenomenon. “Although in most European countries legislation provides for the protection of the victims and the persecution of traffickers, in reality few victims are identified and assisted”. In the course of 2010 CCME will focus on the development of strategies to improve the identification of exploited workers and step up cooperation between states and civil society. A contribution to the revision of the EU directive on human trafficking, due in the next few weeks, is equally being developed.On the agenda. The seminary “Religious freedom and holy sites in the Republic of Cyprus” will be held at the European Parliament, Brussels, on April 14 2010. The seminary is organized by the Representative of the Church of Cyprus to the EU, in cooperation with CSC, with the support of the ex-president of the European Parliament Dr. Hans-Gert Pöttering. It is being hosted by an MEP from Cyprus Dr. Eleni Theocharous (Epp-Ed). Among the panelists figure Chrysostomos II, archbishop of Cyprus; Dr. Pöttering; Mr. Andreas Mavroyiannis, from the permanent delegation of the Republic of Cyprus; bishop Porfyrios of Neapolis, director of the Delegation of the Church of Cyprus to the EU. Consultation on human rights, Hildesheim – Himmelsthür (Germany) on May 3-5 2010: CSC invited human rights experts from the various Churches and CEC member associations to jointly address the theme: “Human rights rise from inside the Church” and to launch a human rights handbook for European Churches. The new network “CALL”, (Church Action on Labour and Life), promoted by CSC, a platform for the exchange of experiences across European countries with the purpose of filling the existing gaps across Europe is due to be launched next April 28-30 2010 with a conference in Brussels.