D66 Press Release
Brussels, March 28th 2012
Sophie in ‘t Veld, Chair and founder of the European Parliament Platform for Secularism in Politics (EPPSP), welcomes the dedication of the new European Parliament President Schulz to start a balanced and representative implementation of Article 17 in the European Parliament, without further delay. The article refers to the obligation, introduced by the Lisbon Treaty, for the EU to maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with churches and philosophical and non-confessional organisations.
MEP In ‘t Veld will draft a letter to the Presidency of the European Parliament with proposals on how to ensure a representative, inclusive and transparent dialogue, doing justice to the diversity in religion, belief and life stance in Europe. She comments: “The implementation of Article 17 should be a general dialogue on European values and ethics. The organization of the dialogue must reflect Europe’s diversity: are the principles enshrined in the EU Treaties just words on paper or do we actually live up to them? Secularism allows everybody to live together equally instead of granting preferred treatments to specific groups of people. That’s why the EU’s institutions should be secular, representing all of the 500 million citizens.”
Tuesday EP President Schulz, upon invitation of the EPPSP, participated in an exchange of views on Article 17. He commented: “There is no single European society. The many different views within Europe should be respected and reflected in the dialogue. Non-believers have to respect the right to religion. But their non-belief should never be used against them. The dialogue between religious and non-religious organizations becomes more and more important as the secular approach faces increasing problems.”
In ‘t Veld agrees: “The implementation of Article 17 has so far been very one-sidedly focussing on relations with churches, increasingly deaf to secularist voices, whether atheist, agnostic, humanist, (liberal) religious or other life stance. It means conservative religious groups and religious groups that have a well organised lobby, like the Vatican, are disproportionately influencing European policies, whereas hundreds of millions of Europeans are not heard. The EU institutions have a duty to ensure that all 500 million citizens are equally heard, regardless of their religion or belief, regardless of whether they have chosen to join a community or association of like minded people.”
In ‘t Veld was pleased with Tuesday’s debate and is looking forward to a fruitful cooperation with President Schulz. “The European Parliament Platform for Secularism in Politics strongly supports the statements made by President Schulz when he spoke from the chair during the debate with Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán, stressing that “Europe will be pluralist, or it will fail”. We fully share his view of the European Parliament as a “multi-religious, multi-ethnic, multi-national assembly. Based upon his statements made on Tuesday, we feel confident that real change is under way. “
EPPSP has been campaigning for many years to promote knowledge, understanding and acceptance of freedom of religion and non-religion, and the impartiality of the EU regarding organizations of faith and conviction. President Schulz’ predecessor, Jerzy Buzek, left unanswered the question on how the European Parliament would ensure an inclusive, representative and transparent dialogue with religions and secular life stances.
