"If we want men and women to recognise Europe as a positive and fundamental political project, then in Europe they must feel more secure and more confident in the future than they would be" if Europe "did not exist". "The strengthening of the social dimension of Europe is therefore as essential as adjusting its institutions to a Union whose members have increased". These are the conclusions drawn by the members of the Social Affairs Commission of Comece (Commission of the EU Bishops Conferences) that held their yearly meeting in Berlin yesterday, chaired by mgr. Reinhard Marx, bishop of Trèves. Thirteen Bishops Conferences took part in the meeting. During the meeting, the Comece Commission also met the German deputy chancellor and Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Franz Müntefering, who said he shares the Bishops’ view in stating, as reported by a release from Comece which has been published today, "that the European Union must be based, first and foremost, on a social model suited to the challenges of globalisation and the aging of the population". (continued)
