Germany: 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, joint Catholic and Evangelical statement. “The EU is more than the sum of its states”

The German Bishops Conference (Dbk) and the German Council of the Evangelical Church (Ekd) released a joint statement on the current progress of the European Union to coincide with the 60^th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome: on March 25^th 1957, in Rome, Italy, Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg and Holland signed the treaty that established the European Economic Community and Euratom (European Atomic Energy Community). That led to today’s EU: “The German churches acknowledge the political and peace-making importance of the Treaty of Rome of 60 years ago – bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, president of Ekd, and cardinal Reinhard Marx, president of Dbk, write –. Just 12 years after the end of the Second World War, the Treaty of Rome paved the way to the European integration process, which has provided peace and prosperity to Europe so far and has become a symbol of freedom for those who live in the world”. But, despite its great progress, according to Marx and Bedford-Strohm, “Europe must learn a lesson from the disagreements of the past few years and overcome its current deep crisis. The European Union is more than the sum of its member states. They must be better prepared for the many challenges and must not be divided. Closer cooperation would be urgent in many areas”. The statement points out that “solidarity with refugees and coordinated foreign and security policies are required. At the same time, the EU should increase its social profile”.