An appeal "to raise the awareness of all the citizens of the European Union" was made in Brussels this morning by the IXE Group (Initiative of Christians for Europe), a network of European "social Christians", taking inspiration from the Social Weeks of France and the Committee of German Catholics (Zdk), which in the Belgian capital presented the manifesto "Let’s find again the sense of the building of Europe". The press conference was also attended by Michel Camdessus, president of the Social Weeks of France, who signed the document, and Thomas Jansen from the Zdk. The Manifesto will be published in March by the main European newspapers and submitted to the citizens’ for their signature before being given to the German presidency of the EU in the run-up to the Berlin Declaration. Despite "the doubts and fears" with which "Europe has to reckon today" in the run-up to 25th March 2007, the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties that established the European Economic Community, the signatories of the Manifesto state that "the building of Europe remains founded on a project" that "is still extremely topical today", an endangered heritage to which we "must give a new lease of life and which we must hand down to the Europeans and to the rest of the world". (to be continued)
