On 27 November, Vice-President of the European Commission Margarítis Schinás, who is responsible for promoting the European way of life, sponsored the first annual dialogue with religious envoys under the Ursula von der Leyen Commission.
The meeting focused on the question of the European way of life in particular, but also on recent events that question it, such as terrorist attacks, migration policies, and not forgetting the Covid-19 pandemic. These have a great “impact on believers”, explained Metropolitan Athenagoras, the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
The main religions practised in the EU were represented on Friday and their leaders unanimously advocated working together in order to make societies more cohesive, to live together, and to learn about religious diversity. They condemned messages of hatred and fanaticism and denounced the “anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim acts that are carried out on a daily basis” and which “divide societies”, as was noted by Abdassamad El Yazidi, the representative of the Central Council of German Muslims.
Referring to recent attacks, Metropolitan Athenagoras stressed the role of education and Erasmus-type exchanges to help learn about the diversity of beliefs.
The new framework for migration policy has also been discussed within this inter-religious dialogue. On this subject, many representatives felt that “Europe lost its soul” with the shipwreck of migrants at sea, as did Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, Bishop of Bavaria and President of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD).
In his opinion, reflecting on a better migration policy, which is the objective of the ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’, cannot be an alternative to “saving lives at sea”.
“The EU must work for the common good, but not only in Europe”, stressed Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, Archbishop of Luxembourg, who said that European policy “must protect the dignity of everyone in the world”; on this point, the EU must work in particular with Africa and “save people who are drowning” at risk of otherwise “losing their soul” if they do not do so.
Imam training
Asked at a press conference about the controversial issue of the training of imams in the EU, a polemic proposal made by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, after the attacks in Conflans, Nice and Vienna, the Vice-President of the Commission said that security and societal inclusion had been discussed at great length. There is a “common duty to fight against ignorance and hatred and to work towards peaceful coexistence”.
The European Commission's proposal of the 9 December on terrorism will provide the key “to get out of the difficulties we are experiencing”, said the Vice-President.
Also invited to this dialogue were Albert Guigui, Chief Rabbi of Brussels and Permanent Representative to the Conference of European Rabbis, Rev. Christian Krieger, President of the Protestant Reformed Church of Alsace and Lorraine and President of the Conference of European Churches, and Rev. Satu Saarinen of the Lutheran Church of Finland. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)