60th anniversary of the Ecumenical Council

Celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Ecumenical Council of Poland will begin in Warsaw on 11 December. Founded on 15 November 1946 by the Lutheran pastor, the Rev. Zygmunt Michalis, by representatives of the Evangelical Churches, by the Old Catholic Church and by the Polish national Catholic Church, the Ecumenical […]

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A law for the better control of minors

Debate on a bill aimed at introducing a curfew for minors recently began in the Polish Parliament. The bill prescribes that, after a certain time, minors shall only be able to frequent public places if accompanied by adults. The introduction of these regulations will be decided by the local authorities that will also have discretionary […]

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Only a “verbal” form of anti-Semitism

“Anti-Semitism in Poland springs from certain cultural and historical forms of conditioning, but it remains confined to the verbal sphere. By contrast, in Western Europe we are dealing with a modern and more aggressive anti-Semitism, linked mainly to the situation in the Middle East”: that’s the opinion of Anna Zielinska, of the European Jewish Congress […]

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POLAND

Law on collaborators of the secret services

The President of the Republic of Poland signed in recent days the new law concerning the vetting of citizens registered by the security services of the Communist regime as collaborators or sources of information of the secret services. The archives of the secret police, now preserved by the National Institute of Memory (IPN), contains files […]

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Romania: the Vatican intervenes to save the cathedral

The Holy See has intervened on the controversial construction of a skyscraper bang next to the historic Roman-Catholic Cathedral of St. Joseph in Bucharest, and asks “that a rapid and satisfactory solution be found to the thorny question”. In a statement issued on 4 December the Holy See traces the history of the affair, since […]

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Portugal: abortion referendum in February 2007

The President of the Republic of Portugal Aníbal Cavaco Silva has called a referendum on the voluntary interruption of pregnancy for 11 February 2007, considering that “the issue is the object of current debate in Portuguese society, despite the fact that a referendum on the matter was already held in 1998”. Indeed, the problem has […]

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European Enterprise Awards to support business

The final verdict of the “European Enterprise Awards” competition is expected to be announced on Thursday 7 December. The awards will be presented to the best projects entered by local authorities in support of business enterprise at the regional level. A statement put out by the European Commission declares that the projects short-listed to enter […]

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Debate on the future of EU integration

After the debate on the problems of European integration held in the European Parliament last May and the further debate in the EP on 29 November, introduced by a report by Irish Premier Bertie Ahern, the representatives of the national parliaments and of the EP met in Brussels on 4-5 December to discuss the “Future […]

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European research: spheres of action

The Seventh Framework Programme for Research for the period 2007-2013, approved by the European Parliament last week, is subdivided into four specific programmes, with an overall endowment of approximately 54 billion euros. The Cooperation programme “shall promote cooperation between industry and academic research throughout Europe, to achieve leadership in key sectors of technology”. This sphere […]

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New strategies to tackle migration

Reinforcing “the global approach of the European Union to migration” and proposing “new and concrete measures to better control this phenomenon”: these are the aims of the two Communications on the mass movements of population presented by the European Commission on 30 November. “The first – explains Commission Vice-President Franco Frattini – reinforces the framework […]

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