A Godly Future for the European Union?
The establishment of a European Convention, bringing together delegates from national and regional governments, the European Commission, and the European Parliament, was decided at the Laken (Brussels) Summit of the European Union in December 2001. This is an ambitious project. The most important duty of the Convention consists in drawing up the future European Constitution. Delegates from the European countries are members of the Convention and national ministers have to adopt this European Constitution to make it legally binding. A draft version of the first part of this Constitution was discussed for the second time in the plenary meeting of 28 February.
Consulting the civil society
The citizens of Europe approve the broad aims of the Union, but see little connection between those goals and the Union’s everyday activity. They want European institutions to be less unwieldy and rigid and, above all, more open. Many feel that the Union should involve itself more with their particular concerns, but without being involved at every level. They want better control of the decisions that affect them.
To widen the basis of debate, a Forum was opened for organizations representing civil society (the social partners, the business world, non-governmental organizations, academia, etc.). It takes the form of a structured network of organizations receiving regular information on the Convention’s proceedings. Their contributions will serve as input into the debate. Such organizations may be heard or consulted on specific topics in accordance with arrangements to be established by the Presidium.
Humanists at Work
The European Humanist Federation (EHF) is an IHEU spin-off which specializes in European issues. Its permanent office is situated in Brussels. For the EHF the consultations offered a unique possibility for monitoring the works of the Convention. The main task of the EHF is to see that the future Constitution is in no way discriminatory and is acceptable to all citizens of the European Union. It therefore founded the working group Civitas. Since the beginning of 2002, Civitas, with the collaboration of Humanists specializing in different fields and from various organizations, has gathered information, and held regular meetings to draw up documents presenting the Humanist viewpoint.
EHF followed all consultation sessions concerning the European Convention and submitted several documents containing the Humanist view, including the document “Contribution to the Convention on the future of Europe”, which stresses the consultative role of civil society organizations; the need for democratic legitimacy of organizations requesting recognition; and the removal of any special status for religious bodies within European institutions.
Humanist View vs Catholic Church View
At the Forum representatives of the Catholic Church set out the position of the COMECE (Commission of the Bishops’ Conference of the European Community) – a position that had been much mentioned in the media and was heavily backed by the Pope and the President of the Convention, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. They requested that God and transcendence be mentioned in the preamble of a future Constitutional Treaty. The EPP (the Christian European People’s Party) even wanted to formulate the future Article 57 as follows: The Union values include the values of those who believe in God as the source of truth, justice, good and beauty as well as of those who do not share such a belief but respect these universal values arising from other sources.
EHF objected to this and pointed out that, contrary to the claims of COMECE and the EPP, churches do not represent the citizens and that the separation of state and church should at all costs be preserved. Such a reference would be against the will of a large number of European citizens and would also institutionalize discrimination against Humanists, non-believers, and others who do not believe in the Christian God. The EHF argues that political institutions must be legitimized through democratic elections, not by some divine principle. Besides, why only refer to the religious heritage? Europe is the product of the influences of different ideologies, religions, philosophies, and conquerors throughout the centuries. Where would Europe be without Greek and Roman influences? The ciphers we use are of Arabic origin. And what about the major influence of the French Enlightenment? Why should just one tradition be referred to as if its influence was superior? If this one “superior” tradition held sway, then maybe the Sun would still revolve around the Earth... The Constitution should simply state that “the Union is based on the undividable and universal principles of human dignity, on liberty, equality and solidarity; it is based on the principles of democracy and the rule of Law”.
The Humanist standpoint did not go unnoticed. The reporter of the group on culture was forced to state the EHF standpoint explicitly at the hearing of the plenary session and his report did not mention the bishops’ demand. The Humanist standpoint was backed by some members of the European Parliament who were attending the plenary session. The media also took notice. Agence Europe (a leading European press agency) mentioned the EHF standpoint in its bulletin of 24 June 2002.
There was no trace of a reference to God or the religious heritage in the proposed draft articles in the plenary session of early February. Immediately afterwards, Catholic lobbyists renewed their efforts. The Vatican was “not disappointed by what was written, but very disappointed by what was not written”. It also expressed surprise that the juridical status of churches and religious communities had been disregarded. As it has become less likely that a reference to God will be incorporated, Catholic lobbyists are now trying to include Declaration 11 of the Final Act of the Amsterdam Treaty, according to which “the European Union respects and does not prejudice the status under national law of churches and religious associations or communities in the Member States”. The sole purpose of this Declaration is to preserve the privileges of certain churches in the Member States.
Humanists of All Countries Unite!
Although the EHF has only limited means, it is doing what it can to follow developments at the European level closely. An e-group informs all EHF members about recent developments and requests action. An important part of the lobbying can be done at the national level, although the negotiations in the Convention about the future European Constitution happen on a European level. Many Humanist associations have contacted their national and European members of parliament or even national Convention members. You can work together with the EHF Brussels team and work in groups on particular issues. You can use the EHF documents and send copies of your press releases and letters to ministers to the EHF. Everyone must devise their own appropriate way for acting. If we Humanists work together now, we can have a say in the drafting of the EU Constitution, in the way that future European institutions are set up, and also in the way citizens are taken into account, in particular the non-believing citizens. Some of us are not yet citizens of the European Union. Some soon will be; others maybe never. Yet all can help give some real meaning to the words “concern, responsibility and solidarity”.
Gert van Eekhout is European Relations Officer, European Humanist Federation. On the EHF website you can find the documents EHF submitted to the forum of the Convention. See http://www.europa.eu.int. The proceedings of the European Convention are available on http://european- convention.eu.int.
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