Brussels, 03/06/2003 (Agence Europe) - "God must figure in the European Constitution", asserted CSU MEP, Joachim Wuermeling (Member of the Convention) in a press statement. He is proposing to replace the reference to religious heritage proposed by the Presidium by the formula respect for conscience and belief in God".
The Forza Italia MEP also expressed the same idea, criticising the fact that, "We want …unity but we're getting rid of the most unifying experience that Europe has known: that of the immense work done by the Church and Europe's Christians over two thousand years"…
The Reverend Rüdiger Noll, director of the Church and Society Commission of the Conference of European Churches ((CEC) and Mgr Noël Treanor, Secretary General of the Commission of the Bishops' Conference of the European Community (COMECE) were more serene in pointing out that the Presidium, "proposes a Preamble to the Constitution which recognises in an inclusive way the contribution of Europe's religious heritage - of which Christianity is a major part". According to them, a Europe that disavows its past, "which denied the fact of religion, and which had no spiritual dimension would be greatly impoverished in facing up to the ambitious project which calls upon all its available energy".