EU Commissioner Stresses Need for Dialogue with Churches

The EU Commissioner has told more than 60 European church leaders gathered for a recent conference on the future of Europe that European institutions need to be in constant dialogue with churches, faith communities and civil society to bring the people of Europe together.

The conference "Values, Religion, Identity" gathered more than 60 European church leaders from 28 countries in Brussels from 12 - 13 December.

The meeting closed with an address of EU Commissioner Jan Figel': "One plus one can be more than two; that is not mathematics, that is ethics," he said, offering the insight that the EU is not just an alliance of states, but is engaged with bringing the people of Europe together.

To achieve this, he stressed that European Institutions need to be in constant dialogue with churches, communities of faith and civil society. Together they can develop new ways of serving the people of Europe, which rise above ordinary compromise or simple mathematics, he said, as he encouraged the church leaders and European churches to continue and strengthen their engagement with the European institutions.

Bishop Wolfgang Huber, President of the Evangelical Church in Germany, stated that Christian values and convictions influenced from the very beginning the movement for European unity.