Does Europe really need a new vision?
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- Written by Roza von Thun und Hohenstein
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I hear people saying and repeating phrases like “we must rethink Europe, we must reinvent Europe, new Europe…Do we really need that?
You asked me to talk about a new vision of Europe. Maybe I am a wrong address for such a request, since I belong to the ardent admirers of Robert Schuman and his vision of Europe. This vision is now almost 70
years old but it is neither too old nor dated. This does not at all mean that there are no challenges for us today.
The questions to us, next generations, is: do we fulfil this vision which was laid for us by the Founding Fathers with an ever better content? Do we adapt it to the quickly changing reality? Don’t we loose the essential? And may be most important: are we, each of us, really convinced Europeans and are we really involved in this magnificent project?
Message President Kevin Ahern to the Siiaec meeting
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- Written by Kevin Ahern
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As many of you know, the themes addressed by your SIIAEC meeting in Warsaw are topics that our movement has been working on over the past year. The concerns raised by members of our movement around world have led us to launch a campaign on Christian Citizenship and the Crisis of Democracy.
This crisis of governance is not unique to Europe. We see the rise of xenophobia and populism in many places around the world, including here in the United States. We see corruption in nearly all levels of government from the local to the international. I see my students asking questions about the future: Is there any hope in democracy? Is there a future for international structures such as the European Union or United Nations? Should we just give up?
New Wineskins for new wine
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- Written by Paul Zulehner
- Hits: 83
Old wine in old wineskins
1- "We are not living in an era of change but experiencing the change of an era", thus Pope Francis to the Italian bishops. A deep reaching change is taking place. This we have to master. For this, small reforms are not enough. Courage is required. He, the Pope, has this. Within five years he has changed the Roman Catholic Church. Structures are being renewed. A decentralisation is under way. The Pope is convinced that the Holy Spirit is not at work onlv in Rome. In his inaugural speech "Evangelii Gaudium" he quoted regional bishop-conferences 40 times. When the four "dubia cardinals" waited for an answer to their letter about "Amoris Laetitia", he adapted a pastoral letter of the Argentine bishops and raised this to the rank of a genuine teaching. He gave this local letter the authority of a "magisterium authenticum".
Right to dissent in the catholic church
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- Written by Daniel Deak
- Hits: 271
Right to dissent and the obligation of obedience
In a secular society – in which we have been living in the most part of Europe for at least two hundred years – it can be found as obvious that there is no consensus in several instances and that one citizen’s opinion may differ from that of another one or from the position of a supreme power or body. It is an everyday experience to meet conflicting views. However, once a pious citizen crosses the threshold of a church, he or she might think that the possibility and the right to be dissented have ceased in the altar.
CoE : World Forum for Democracy 2017
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- Written by Philippe Grolleau
- Hits: 190
Strasbourg, 8-10 November 2017
Please, find hereafter the Final report, Conclusions, Evaluation data .../...
CoE : No Hate Speech Movement
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- Written by Philippe Grolleau
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First broad international initiative that helped recognise hate speech as human right abuse
STRASBOURG 10 APRIL 2018
Hate speech continues to poison public debate, and the urgency to counter it has not diminished over the past years. The youth campaign No Hate Speech Movement (NHSM) conducted by the Council of Europe in 2012-2017 as the first broad international initiative in this field has contributed to recognising hate speech as an abuse of human rights, and has offered valuable lessons for the future. This is a key message of the conference that has brought together some 150 representatives of national campaign committees, European campaign partners and youth organisations at the European Youth Centre in Strasbourg today to evaluate the campaign and design way forward.
CoE : Reform of the European Convention on Human Rights
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- Written by Philippe Grolleau
- Hits: 176
Statement and proposals of the Conference of INGOs on the ECHR
STRASBOURG 15 MARCH 2018
The Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe welcomes the initiative of the Danish Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers to continue the process of reform of the European Convention on Human Rights system, initiated in Interlaken in 2010. However, many provisions in the Draft Declaration of 5 February 2018 need to be rewritten in substance and in its wording in order to truly meet the future requirements and challenges of the system of protection of human rights in Europe. The Conference of INGOs transmitted its declaration and proposals to the members of the Steering Committee on Human Rights and the Permanent Representations of the Member States of the Council of Europe.
CoE : Visit of the conference of INGOs to Skopje
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- Written by Philippe Grolleau
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CIVIL PARTICIPATION IN THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS
Visit of the conference of INGOs to Skopje - 26-27 March 2018
STRASBOURG 04/04/2018
A year ago, "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" entered a new political dynamic marked by openness and democratic dialogue between public authorities and independent civil society. The importance of this change is necessary not only for this country but also for democratic security throughout the Western Balkan region. The current political climate is marked by the political will of policymakers and NGOs to establish a strategic partnership.
Lidia Tresalti
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- Written by Edda Gastaldi
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On March 29th, Holy Thursday, Lidia Tresalti died, who for many years represented Meic within Pax Romana, promoting our international activity very significantly. Here is a memory of Edda Gastaldi.
Dear Lidia,
I was with you for breakfast on February 2, 2018, the day when the Council of Presidents and Responsible of Meic began with the title "La Grazia suppone culture" (Evangelii Gaudium, 115) and, as usual, we talked about the "life" of the movement that is most dear to you, that of "Pax Romana": Europe and the different countries of the world. You had the usual enthusiasm, the same with which I met you in the early nineties, when you had welcomed the friend prof. Anton Kostal, from Trnava in Slovakia, a twin city with mine and in which he suffered considerable persecution because of his Christian faith. As soon as I heard of your sudden death, deeply moved, I remembered, thinking of you, the words of an exemplary Bishop Don Tonino Bello: "May the Lord help us spread the good fragrance of Christ in the house and in the world. Perfume in the house, Communion. Perfume in the world, Hope ".
Italian elections: a country to repair
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- Written by Riccardo Saccenti
- Hits: 189
The outcome of the elections of March 4 is a political framework that is both profoundly new and extremely fragile. However, there is a further level which is primary and essential. The electoral result in fact reflects deep fractures that cross the country with the result of an apparently blocked parliament. One, of a social nature, is rooted in a growing gap between wealth and poverty, in the diffused intolerance towards a redistribution of wealth through a completely inadequate social and fiscal system and in the sense of injustice for a job whose dignity has been and is too often trampled. The other fracture is geographic and passes through the simultaneous success of the center-right in the central-northern part of the country and the one of the 5 Star Movement in the central southern part.
Minorities in Europe
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- Written by Bodó Márta
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I live as a minoritarian within a vast majority of an other ethnic and religious group. As we live in the Eastern part of Europe, which went through a lot of historical changes and uneasiness, also five decades of communist totalitarianism, people’s minds are quite confused. Law and order does not function as in well established democracies. The rights of the national and linguistic minorities are not always respected. In many cases their language and culture is endangered.
Secularism, proposals from Démocratie et Spiritualité
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- Written by Démocratie et spiritualité
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Democracy and Spirituality is a French association created in 1993 that brings together people of diverse sensibilities, not necessarily believers, but engaged in different fields of social life, to reflect, in common, on the relations between democracy and spirituality in today's France.
The Charter that unites its members is based on the conviction that, on the one hand, democracies need an ethical and spiritual dimension to carry out their promise of equal dignity for each, and that, on the other hand, spiritualities and religions have a need for democratic regulation to pacify their potentially violent dark side. How, then, can the relations between "democracy" and "spirituality" be fruitful?
The necessary bases of a European community
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- Written by Robert Schuman
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Article written by Robert Schuman for the Pax Romana review in June 1953
One would make a mistake and be the victim of a dangerous illusion if one believed that, in order to make Europe, it would be sufficient to create European Institutions. It would be like a body without a soul. These institutions will have to be led by a European spirit, as His Holiness Pius XII defined it, in front of the members of the College of Europe in Bruges last March 15. The peoples belonging to a European Community will have to be aware of their solidarity, and place their trust in their mutual cooperation.
However, between nations that, a short while ago, were still fighting each other as enemies, the budding of such feelings will be slow and difficult; it will not only be antagonized by the memories of a recent past, but also by mistakes, blunders and sometimes deliberate provocations, finally by the apprehensions regarding the future. All these are reasons for us to succeed quickly.
Poland: No to antisemitism
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- Written by Stanislaw Latek
- Hits: 240
Open letter addressed to international public opinion, at the initiative of the civic NGOs in Poland.
We are writing to you from Poland. And from many other places in the world, where we live, study and work. We, the Poles, who do not agree with how current policy casts a pall over the Polish-Jewish relations developed over the years. We write to all of you who look at Poland today with disbelief, sadness or anger.
We write because we want you to know that regardless of how radical and inappropriate the positions of Polish authorities or certain groups are, these are not the positions and views of us all. We ask that you keep current politics in perspective, although we know how difficult this may be.
CoE : Three new reports from the GRECO
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- Written by Philippe Grolleau
- Hits: 216
The Group of States against corruption (GRECO) has recently published three new reports :
8 MARCH 2018
GRECO publishes a report on Slovenia
6 MARCH 2018
GRECO publishes a report on Portugal
1 MARCH 2018
GRECO publishes a report on Greece
CoE : Commitment for a broader support for human rights
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- Written by Philippe Grolleau
- Hits: 240
International organisations commit to building broader support for human rights
With the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 70 years ago, governments around the globe committed to making peace, democracy and justice a reality for all. We, national, regional and international institutions have worked towards that objective, striving to improve the life of hundreds of millions of people around the world. However, that work remains incomplete as poverty, armed conflicts, oppression, inequality and discrimination are still a reality for so many people.
CoE : The European Pillar of Social Rights
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- Written by Philippe Grolleau
- Hits: 229
Stressing the urgent need to protect social rights, the Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe:
- Urges the European Union and its Member States to translate their political commitment to protect social rights into concrete actions, reaffirming the indivisible, interdependent and inseparable nature of all human rights;
- To this end, calls on the European Union and its Member States to accede to the Revised European Social Charter as the social constitution of Europe, detailing a roadmap to promote the effective guarantee of social rights for all;
Law about medical termination of pregnancy. Sri Lanka
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- Written by Annemari de Silva
- Hits: 259
Statement from concerned members of the Catholic community in support of amending Penal Code No. 2 of 1883 and Code of Criminal Procedure Act No. 15 of 1979 for purposes of extending permitted instances of medical termination of pregnancy.
We, the undersigned members of the Catholic community, support the proposed amendments that will expand abortion provisions in cases of rape, incest, and serious foetal impairment. The amendments do not compel anyone to have an abortion nor does it permit abortion in general. Rather, it simply decriminalizes procuring an abortion in two very limited cases. Criminalization of abortion does not prevent abortion but drives women to seek dangerous illegal abortions1.
COMECE : Ecclesia in Europe
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- Written by Philippe Grolleau
- Hits: 280
At the end of his term as President of COMECE, Die to resurrect
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- Written by Mikel Etxebarria
- Hits: 252
Another Church possible in the global era and plural era. (Javier Elzo)
His new book is based on an accurate reflection "You cannot live faith today as lived and understood by our previous generations of Christians during the long centuries of the era of Christianity, in whose rales we are." Although it may seem a pessimistic observation, Elzo understands it as an opportunity.
