Four organisations (IAO- CEC – COMECE – Together for Europe) have issued a common declaration in which they call on the European institutions to recognize Christian values as the foundation of the European project and to oppose those who use Christian values as the basis of ethno-racial narratives.
According to a press release, entities highlighting Christian values in the European field enter the pre-election political dialogue for the European elections with a dynamic intervention.
Political – parliamentary as well as social entities, along with representatives of Christian Churches in Brussels – are expressing opinions, voicing criticisms, and envisioning a dynamic dialogue for the European future based on European principles, which certainly include Christian values, it adds.
The Conference of European Churches (CEC), the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO), and the organisation Together for Europe, address an Appeal
text to all European citizens faithful to the democratic principles and institutions of the European Union, criticizing the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the EU bureaucratic mechanism.
The undersigned bodies, it notes, consider that the European institutions systematically and intentionally exclude from any kind of dialogue on European affairs, numerous European citizens who discuss, plan, and envision a future, based on Christian values as cultural and social conquests of the world and Europe and not on their religious identity.
“Realizing the difficulties of EU mechanisms in responding to the current challenges for the European future, it is noted that the prevailing fearful syndromes in large parts of citizens lead them to instrumentalized interpretations of the concepts of ‘tradition, homeland, and religion’. At the same time, ‘sanctifying’ dubious historical figures, contributes to an atmosphere of uncertainty in which “political parties are called upon to reshape their own narrativ
es based on the long-term trends that characterize the European integration process.’ Invoking Article 17 of the Treaty of Lisbon on the Functioning of the European Union, they call on European parties to recognize Christian values as the foundation of the European project and to oppose those who use religious faith for nationalistic narratives” it says.
In the following days, it adds, they will request meetings with political parties in order to bring the text to their consideration.
In their Appeal they call the political groups of the European Institutions, the political parties and MEP candidates to recognise Christian values as a main foundation of the European project also by implementing to a greater extent Article 17 (3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, concerning an open, transparent and regular dialogue with churches and religious associations.
They also urge them to fight against the instrumentalisation of Christian values for political interests and in the perspective of
ethno-racial narratives and to promote Christian values in the political programmes and pre-election campaigns.
Source: Cyprus News Agency