Brussels, 03/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - French Socialist Olivier Duhamel, one of the European Parliament's representatives to the European Convention, says in the article "Dieu est au-dessus de l'Europe" published by the Journal du Dimanche of 2 February, that respectable as the call by some people of God to be put into the European Constitution, it does not take account of the diversity of our cultures. Other people have the sometimes avowed ulterior motive of wanting Europe to be a Christian or even Catholic club, he added, noting that the different representatives of Protestant, Jewish and Muslim religions have not been connected with this. At a time, Duhamel says, when fundamentalism wants to be the rallying cry of the millions of Muslims living in the EU, it would be particularly inappropriate to appear to define oneself to the exclusion of Islam.
The "constitutional link with God" varies considerably from one EU country to the next, points out Duhamel. The English sing "God save the Queen", the Irish constitution was adopted in the name of the Very Holy Trinity and the Greek constitution on behalf of the Holy and Indivisible Trinity". The Germans say they are "aware of their responsibility before God" at the beginning of their Fundamental Law, while the Spanish constitution mentions "cooperation with the Catholic Church" and the Danish mentions the fact that the King is part of the "evangelical Lutheran church". Other constitutions do not mention God and the first article of the French constitution says that France is a "secular, democratic and social republic". At the other extreme, the Polish constitution (quoted as a reference by the European People's Party) mentions in its preamble that all citizens of the republic, those who believe in God as the source of truth, justice and good, and those who do not share this faith but respect these universal values as coming from other sources".