Three major questions

The first 2012 issue of Europe Infos devotes ample space to economic and financial politics issues. A contribution by Jacque Delors underlines the ideal significance of the single currency, “a tool providing spiritual momentum for European unification”; MEP Sylvie Goulard, (Adle-France), and member of the European Parliament’s standing committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, conveys her hopes for 2012, starting with the situation of crisis affecting Europe and Europeans, while an article by Stephan Lunte provides an analysis of the Summit held at the beginning of December and the blueprints released during the meeting, aimed at reviving the process. Other articles focus on foreign policy and relations with Africa, regional policy and cohesion in Europe, as well as migration, ethics, research and employment. The editorial by the secretary general delves into the situation of Christians in the Middle East.The EU and stem cell research policy. “Horizon 2020 is the EU’s new programme for research and innovation running from 2014 to 2020 with an €80 billion budget”, writes José Ramos-Ascensão. It is “a major tool for promoting growth and innovation in the European Union. In the field of medical research, in particular, it may lead to innovative treatments for patients”. These proposals may “improve the current ethical framework”. Nevertheless, “two of the most important principles are missing: protection of human dignity and putting the interests and welfare of the human being before that of society or science”. In particular, José Ramos-Ascensão reiterates the concerns of the COMECE secretary, who over recent years closely monitored and contributed to the ethical debate on research, notably, for one major omission: the exclusion of the commitments already undertaken by the Commission in its Statement in 2006, that the EU Commission “will not submit to the Regulatory Committee proposals for projects which include research activities which destroy human embryos, including for the procurement of stem cells”, which is not provided for in the Horizon 2020 project. At the light of the recent progress of research on ethical issues, having argued the issue at length, José Ramos-Ascensão in his concluding remarks, conveys the expectation that the recent legal and scientific developments will be taken into consideration and clearly reflected in the instruments of Horizon 2020 when it is finally adopted.Economic crisis: reinventing employment. Father Henri Madelin, on the occasion of the conference held past December 8 “Human labour: a successful key to exit the crisis in Europe?” provided the opportunity for a reinterpretation and an in-depth reading of John Paul II’s encyclical “ Laborem exercens”, 30 years after its publication. A main feature of the encyclical is the ‘personalistic perspective’ that “emphasizes the central nature of the person” “in relationships with other people”. From this angle work is viewed as “necessary to the personalization and socialization of man, unemployment is “always an evil”, and even a “calamity”. “We can add that modern work – writes Fr Madelin, Jesuit at Ocipe in Strasbourg – with its increasing specialisation, entails a very great interdependence between men, which can only serve to increase the need for ethics in work and the importance of social links”. It is the whole of our society “that must from now on be ‘in labour’ if we are to recognize in each the dignity which characterizes it. The main question which agitates every society on this planet is this: How to ‘reinvent work’ in order to make it the place of full and complete solidarity that is capable of genera-ting a real social fruitfulness”.A global approach to migration. Past November 18 the European Commission published a Communication on Global Approach to Migration and Mobility, that values an approach that is not about ‘flows’, ‘stocks’ and ‘routes’, but about people: their aspirations, problems, opportunities, rights and obligations. For José Luis Bazán, “This perspective shows a valuable evolution since the Tampere European Council for the first time introduced the idea of the so-called ‘comprehensive approach’ in migration issues addressing political, human rights and development issues in countries and regions of origin and transit”. The new proposal “The 2011 Global Approach” is based on four pillars: facilitating legal migration and mobility; preventing irregular migration and trafficking in human beings; promoting international protection; and (as a new one) enhancing the external dimension of asylum policy, maximising the development impact of migration and mobility while limiting its negative consequence”. The development dimension is also underlined in the proposal (facilitating remittances, empowering Diasporas, promoting circular migration and avoiding brain drains), which “could be reinforced if it is coupled with external cooperation and policy dialogues”. It is equally important “to promote better governance of migration through partnership programs whereby Developing countries are “considered as protagonists and responsible actors in migration”.