Brussels, 26/11/2004 (Agence Europe) - By proposal of its President Marcin Libicki (UEN, Poland), the Committee on Petitions of the EP took position on the reference to Europe's Christian heritage and to God in the Constitutional Treaty, particularly in its preamble, on 22 November. Most members of the parliamentary Committee believe that "the Member States should be able to include a declaration on their point of view with regard to Europe's Christian heritage and the reference to God when they ratify the Constitutional Treaty, if they so wish". To start with , there was a petition presented by former MEP Elisabeth Montfort (EPP-ED, France) on behalf of the "International Mission Centre" (which has its headquarters in Italy), with over a million signatures (1,148,687). IN November 2003, members of the EPP-ED group at the European Parliament- including Elisabeth Montfort- sent a trunk containing 400,000 signatures in favour of this recognition to the Italian Minister for European Affairs, Rocco Buttiglione (see EUROPE of 21 November). As this petition was declared to be admissible, the Committee on Petitions proceeded to examine its substance.
President Libicki told the press on Monday that the petition was submitted in the name of around fifty NGOs representing 55 million people. The representative of the NGO Christian Action Research and Education, Brussels, one of the signatories of the petition, said on the same occasion that historically, "Christian faith has quite clearly had the greatest influence on thought and life in Europe", and that "it is no coincidence that principles such as democracy and the rule of law were able to take root in our continent". He believes that "the million signatures obtained is significant, and should not be stifled". He pointed out that at the time, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, President of the European Convention which drafted the Constitution, "personally chose not to include this reference" in the Constitutional Treaty, whilst launching an appeal to the citizens to air their views on the subject. The petition, with its million signatures, is this answer, concluded the representative of the NGO. Speaking along the same lines, the representative of the NGO Avocats France regretted the fact that "France, Belgium and Turkey fought for the Christian heritage not to be included in the preamble to the Treaty".
Speaking for the parliamentary committee, Manolis Mavromatis (EPP-ED, Greece) pointed out that Greece had "organised places for worship and prayer at the 2004 Olympic Games, for athletes, guests, family members (…), guaranteeing respect for everyone's faith". Miroslav Mikolasik (EPP-ED, Slovakia) said that he was proud that seven countries, including Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic and Malta had together asked for a reference to the Christian heritage in the preamble to the Constitutional Treaty. This heritage "has left an indelible mark of justice, liberty, equality and peace", said the MEP, who feels that this reference to Christianity ought to be included in the national process of ratifying the Treaty. British Conservative member Roger Helmer referred to "two principles in conflict (…), the separation of the Church and State (…), and the definition of Europe on the basis of its Judaeo-Christian heritage". "Personally, I feel a great cultural attachment to the Church of England, but I don't always live by its advice!", he said. Irish Socialist Proinsas de Rossa does "not agree with this petition", because he feels that "the concerns of the petitioners are largely unjustified, as they are already included in the Constitution". Mr de Rossa takes the view that it is up to each Member State to establish its own relationship with Christianity, but that it is "essential for Europe to draw a distinction between secular power and religion. As Robert Schuman quoted: Give Caesar what belongs to Caesar!" Mario Borghezio (IND/DEM, Italy) expressed his "complete solidarity" with the petition. "It cannot be denied that we are Christians, but our Institution does not wish to recognise these Christian roots", said the Lega Nord MEP, who feels that "the only way to resolve this issue is a referendum". The Los Angeles born Spanish Green David Hammerstein said that "the EU is not a Christian club, it is a club of democrats who believe in unity in diversity, where pluralism and multiculturalism flourish". "The unity of Europe is based on diversity, not on any particular religion", he said. Mercedes Bresso (PES, Italy) gave her full support to the petition, "which should remain open", as did Maria Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou (EPP-ED, Greece), who said that "with this petition, we are simply referring to a historical truth which honours everybody". Lastly, Conservative Sir Robert Atkins (EPP-ED, UK) stated fatalistically that "the bottom line is that in any case, we cannot amend the Constitutional Treaty. We have absolutely no power to do anything at all".