wfn.org | EU SUMMIT: CHURCHES PLEAD FOR COHERENCE OF EU POLICIES

["Ruth Gill" <rag@cec-kek.org>]

Conference of European Churches - Office of  Communications
Press Release No. 05-12/e				      21 March
2005

Jointly issued with Eurodiaconia (European Federation for Diaconia)

EU SUMMIT: CHURCHES PLEAD FOR COHERENCE OF EU POLICIES

Eurodiaconia and the Church and Society Commission of the Conference of
European Churches (CEC) wrote a letter to Mr Jean-Claude Juncker, Prime
Minister of Luxembourg, expressing their concern for poverty and exclusion
within Europe in view of the forthcoming Spring summit of the European
Union (EU), which will take place in Brussels on 22-23 March under the
Presidency of Luxembourg.

The joint letter specifically deals with the mid-term review of the
so-called Lisbon Strategy. The Spring EU Council meeting in 2000 in Lisbon
had set itself a new strategic goal for the next decade: "To become the
most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable
of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater
social cohesion."

Eurodiaconia and the Church and Society Commission of CEC "welcome the
efforts of the European Commission to provide a better implementation of
the Lisbon Strategy and utilise the enlarged Union's potential in order to
create prosperity and to increase opportunity and justice for all its
citizens", but "regret that in the Communication of the Commission to the
Spring Council social cohesion has been removed as a priority objective of
the Lisbon Strategy. This Communication is reverting to one-dimensional
policies, narrowing the Lisbon process down to a simplistic agenda of cost
competitiveness and deregulation and, moreover, ignores the reality of the
sixty-eight million people who face poverty and social exclusion within
the EU".

"While we recognise the importance of enhancing the EU efforts in the
fields of economy and employment", the letter goes on, "we stress even
more the importance of an overall coherence of EU policies. The spirit of
the Lisbon strategy for a sustainable development truly integrating
economic, social and environmental dimensions must not be lost". The
balance of these values is also reflected in the Constitutional Treaty of
the EU, the letter states.

"Economic growth", CEC and Eurodiaconia underline, "should not be an end
in itself but should serve wider interests. Modernised social protection,
fighting poverty and social exclusion as well as promoting sustainable
development all contribute to creating a social framework of stability,
which is a decisive factor for sustainable economic growth with more and
better jobs in Europe". It is also indispensable "to invest more in
people: in education, professional training, life-long-learning, innovation and research".

* * * *

Eurodiaconia is a federation of 43 members - churches, non-statutory
welfare organisations and NGOs in Europe - operating at national and
international level. Our members are rooted in Christian faith within the
traditions of the Reformation as well as in the Anglican and Orthodox
traditions. We network diaconal and social work of institutions and church
communities and co-operate with civil society partners.

The Church and Society Commission of the Conference of European Churches
(CEC) links CEC's some 125 member churches from all over Europe and its
associated organisations with the European Union's institutions, the
Council of Europe, the OSCE, NATO and the UN (on European matters). Its
task is to help the churches study church and society questions from a
theological social-ethical perspective, especially those with a European
dimension, and to represent the member churches of CEC in their relations
with political institutions working in Europe.

Eurodiaconia and the Church and Society Commission of CEC have a joint
Social Policy working group.

For more information:
Church and Society Commission of CEC
Rue Joseph II, 174
BE - 1000 Brussels
Phone +32 2 230 17 32
e-mail csc@cec-kek.be