newsitems

*Freiburg (Germany)/Angelo Marcopolo/- Similar views on fundamental issues highlighted in Pope Benedict's landmark speech at the Bundestag in Berlin, as the currently urgent need to respect Human Life's Dignity (See earlier "EuroFora"s NewsReport), bring closer together Christians of Catholic and Orthodox confessions, acknowledged his Spokesman, Vatican Press Director, Frederico Lombardi, in statements he gave to "EuroFora" on Sunday, just after the Pope's meeting with Representatives of the Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Churches at Freiburg's ArchiBishopric.
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 - "That's True, that's right",  Lombardi replied to "EuroFora"s observation that the Pope "linked" Orthodox Christians, "Greens", a part of Protestantts, and even nearby Karlsruhe's German Constitutional Court, as well as it's appeal for a "renewal" of Christian People's everyday lives and commitment, etc. among various manifold aspects of his  "intense", (as Lombardi himself observed earlier), trip to Germany, to the main issues underlined in his landmark Speech in the Bundestag), on BioEthics,  Power, and European Cultural Heritage  on Justice and Human Rigfhts, etc. (See specific "EuroFora" NewsReport on Bundestag's Pope Benedict speech.

 + Freiburg"s meeting highlighted the fact that 'there are elements which allow to speak about a strong Consonance (sound) of Syntony between Catholics and Orthodox in Fundamental Issues of Society nowadays", Lombardi told "EuroFora".

    - This includes, in particular, issues  "such as the vision of the Dignity of Human Life, of Family, etc.", the Pope's Spokesman observed.

    => All "these clearly show that we can  bear witness together in certain key issues for the Future", father Frederico Lombardi concluded.

    - On this point, "You can cite (the) relevant paragraphs" of Pope Benedict's Statements, his Spokesman pointed out.
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    - "I have come to know and love Orthodoxy more and more through my Personal Friendships with representatives of the Orthodox Churches", already "since the time when I was a professor in Bonn, and especially when I was ArchiBishop of Munich and Freising", Pope Benedict reminded earlier today.     

     Since then, "at that time, the, the Joint Committee of the German Bishops' Conferennvce and the Orthodox Church also begun its work", he reminded, while meeting also with Mgr. Avgoustinos, an active Christian Orthodox Leader in Germany, who had proudly said to "EuroFora" that, indeed, he had the "chance to attend Mgr. Ratzinger's teaching in Bavaria"..

    => "The Christians in Germany - including Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Christians - are walking Side by Side, .... on the basis of their Faith.. At the same time, they ...place the Miracle of God's incarnation at the centre" : I.e., "realising that on this Mystery, all Human Dignity depends, they speak up Jointly for the Protection of Human Life, from Conception to Natural Death", he observed, including, naturally, the protection of Human Embryo from Genetic Manipulations...

>>> - This is particularly required "in the present climate, in which many would like, as it were, to "liberate" Public Life from God", as he criticized, making a clear reference to his landmark Speech at the Bundestag (See previous "EuroFora" News).

+ Such developments appeared even more topical, inter alia, also by the recent publication of a Book on "Values of Christian Democracy", presented on the sidelines of the latest EU Parliament's Plenary session in Strasbourg by its 2 co-Authors, experienced former President of several Committees Horst Langes and expert Norbert Neuhaus, which was, as they told "EuroFora", given earlier personally also to the current Head of the Russian Orthodox Christian Church, ArchiBishop Cyril, who reportedly had been interested to translate it also in Russian language.. 

European People's Party Chairman, French MEP Joseph Daul, and experienced former EU Commission's President Jacques Santer, were present at this event. 

*Freiburg(Germany)/Angelo Marcopolo/- The only "Green" politician elected as Head of a German Laender, new Prime Minister of Baden-Wurtemberg's Federated State, Winfried Kretschmann, replying to an "EuroFora" question, strongly supported Pope Benedict's call, at his landmark speech at the Bundestag, to start debating issues such as the need to respect also Human Natural Life's Dignity, in order to protect it from growing risks of Genetic and other Manipulation, (See previous "EuroFora"s NewsReport) :

- "In the Bundestag, Pope Benedict referred to the Ecologic Movement, making an appeal for a Debate to start, including not only the protection and the respect of Nature alone, but also for the respect of Human Nature also.  And you had told us something interesting about that, yourself, just before your (recent) election", "EuroFora" reminded to Kretschmann, (See relevant NewsReport of 2010).

=> ' "Do you think that there is something, there, which might develop, in Germany and all Europe, in this Direction, in the Future ?", we asked the only "Green" politician to have succeeded until now to head a German Federated State.
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- The Pope spoke about "very Fundamental issues" for all Mankind, stressed from the outset the experienced, long-time German "Green" leader, in reply  to "EuroFora"s question.
- In fact, the Pope denounced Dangers that Human beings may be Manipulated, genetically or otherwise, and/or that Humans may (re)produce other Humans, by risks of abuses from Molecular Biology, etc., Kretschmann observed.

- The Bundestag (German Parliament) has already shown that it considers very Carefully such delicate issues, as it was seen f.ex. during the recent debate on the Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnostics, and other concrete cases,  the "Green" Leader estimated.

- On this occasion, we (Greens) are delighted that the Pope endorsed even explicitly the Ecological Movements.

- However, Protection of the Natural Environment and debates on Human Dignity  are not an exclusive play-field only for the "Greens" alone, but also for many others, observed from the outset Kretschmann in reply to "EuroFora"s question, already pointing, indirectly but obviously, towards links thus created f.ex. with ChristianDemocrats, independent politicians inside various other parties.  

+ Moreover, every MP is free to think, speek and vote, on such Bioethical issues, according to his/her beliefs and conscience, without being obliged to obey to his/her Party's orders, he added, extending further-on the circle of like-minded independent politicians, (as, f.ex. also the Socialist MEP Jo Leinen, President of EU Parliament's Environment Committee, who had confirmed to "EuroFora" the fact that, in a very controversial EU Draft Legislation, he had personally voted against any risk of Genetic Eugenism, contrary to the majority of his "Socialist" party).

 - "I think that the Bundestag is normally considering such issues "very carefully", and that a Majority of MEPs agrees with such a (critical) line, Kretschmann also found, (apparently adding most CDU/CSU and Green MPs together with independent-minded MPs from various other Political Groups).

+ Moreover,  what that Pope said in his Speech (at the Bundestag) is, more or less, supported by a Majority of German People, Kretschmann added.

=> In consequence, the Bundestag is due to behave in a very Responsible manner when deciding on such Crucial debates raising serious BioEthical issues, the "Green" leader optimistically concluded for the foreseeable Future.

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=> To sum up the overall impression, Kretschmann appeared this time, (i.e. after Pope Benedict's landmark Speech at the Bundestag), much more Optimist than he was in previous statements to "EuroFora" (See f.ex. 2010 NewsReport, etc), about the possibility for most, if not all, "Greens" to find anew their initial sensitivity on BioEthical issues, which had traditionaly marked their movement, even at EU Parliament, (f.ex. with former mainstream MEP Hiltrud Breyer, etc), as close to ChristianDemocrats and others in such crucial issues for all Humankind.
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+ For his part, young Greeen politician Solomon, Mayor of Freiburg, questioned by "EuroFora" also on Pope Benedict's Bundestag speech in Berlin, prefered to focus on the "Philosophical", as he pointed out, aspects :

 I.e.. mainly at EU's Historic Cultural foundations, inspired particularly from the Jewish MonoTheism, the Greek Philosophy, and the Roman Law", as Freiburg's Mayor observed.

*Freiburg(Germany)/Angelo Marcopolo/- The "Urgent Invitation" to start a large "Debate" (See earlier Data Notes) on Moral and Social Values' going well beyond strict "Positivism, in order to protect in particular Human Nature  from current risks of Manipulations, etc., thanks also to "Europe's Cultural Heritage on Human Rights", launched by Pope Benedict at the Bundestag in Berlin, could and should be developed further both in Germany, and in the direction of European/PanEuropean Organizations, agreed in substance Pope's Press Spokesman, Director of Vatican's Press Director, father Frederico Lombardi :

- "Indeed, it's a much Larger message", stressed in conclusion Lombardi, agreeing in fact with "EuroFora"s orientation towards an EU-wide move, (see Supra).

- Meanhwile, "I think that .. it was quite Well-received by the people in Germany", also observed the experienced Vatican's Press Director, who had also worked for a long time in the Past as Journalist at nearby Bonn.

+ Moreover, Lombardi revealed that Pope Benedict considered also as "very Important" his forthcoming meeting with the Judges of Germany's Constitutional Court from nearby Karlsruhe, scheduled for tomorrow, Sunday, 25/9/2011, to the point that "he spoke about that several times, even during the Airplane Flight".

Both the Parliament, as well as the Court, are notoriously involved in several "hotly" debated BioEthical issues recently, which are considered in Germany as so important that they even affected the choice of the Court's new President, (See relevant 2009 "EuroFora"s NewsReport, on the occasion of a visit by Chancellor Angie Merkel to the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe..
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An "Urgent invitation to launch" a "necessary Public Debate" on a "Dramatic situation  which affects everyone" : i.e. attempts to "exclude" in fact Moral Consciousness of what is Right or Wrong, in the foundations of the contemporary Power of State and Law", including current risks to "manipulate" Human Nature, was strongly addressed from the German Bundestag's tribune of honor in Berlin, by Pope Benedict, in a landmark speech, largely applauded by a wide Majority of MPs  :
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- Now, "at a moment in History when man has acquired previously inconceivable power, this task takes on a particular Urgency. Man can destroy the World. He can Manipulate himself. He can, so to speak, Make Human Beings, and he can Deny them their Humanity", Pope Benedict warned .

- In such cases, "it is evident that for the Fundamental issues..., in which the Dignity of man and of Humanity is at stake, the majority principle is not enough: everyone in a position of responsibility must Personally seek out the criteria to be followed when framing laws", he stressed.

-  Thus, "today, in view of the vast extent of our knowledge and our capacity, it has become still harder".. "to recognize what is truly Right and thus to serve Justice when framing laws", he observed.

- "This conviction was what motivated Resistance movements to act against the Nazi regime and other Totalitarian regimes, thereby doing a great service to Justice and to Humanity as a whole. For these People, it was indisputably evident that the law in force was actually Unlawful". Thus, "In the 3rd century, the great theologian Origen provided the following explanation for the Resistance of Christians to certain legal systems: “Suppose that a man were living among the Scythians, whose laws are Contrary to the Divine Law, and was compelled to live among them ... such a man for the sake of the true law, though illegal among the Scythians, would rightly form associations with like-minded people contrary to the laws of the Scythians.”, he critically reminded.
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    - But, meanwhile, " there has been a Dramatic Shift in the situation in the last half-century : The idea of natural law is today viewed as a specifically Catholic doctrine, not worth bringing into the discussion in a non-Catholic environment, so that one feels almost ashamed even to mention the term".

    "The reason for this is that in the meantime, the Positivist understanding of nature has come to be almost universally accepted. If nature – in the words of Hans Kelsen – is viewed as “an aggregate of objective data linked together in terms of cause and effect”, then indeed no ethical indication of any kind can be derived from it. A positivist conception of nature as purely functional, as the natural sciences consider it to be, is incapable of producing any bridge to ethics and law, but once again yields only functional answers. The same also applies to reason, according to the positivist understanding that is widely held to be the only genuinely scientific one. Anything that is not verifiable or falsifiable, according to this understanding, does not belong to the realm of reason strictly understood. Hence ethics and religion must be assigned to the subjective field, and they remain extraneous to the realm of reason in the strict sense of the word. Where positivist reason dominates the field to the exclusion of all else – and that is broadly the case in our public mindset – then the classical sources of knowledge for ethics and law are excluded".

    => "This is a dramatic situation which affects everyone, and on which a public debate is necessary. Indeed, an essential goal of this address is to issue an urgent invitation to launch one", Pope Benedict urged at the Bundestag.
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- Of course, "the positivist approach to nature and reason, the positivist world view in general, is a most important dimension of human knowledge and capacity that we may in no way dispense with"', for other,  purpose", (f.ex. production); he acknowledged.

 - " But in and of itself it is not a sufficient culture corresponding to the full breadth of the human condition", because, "Where Positivist reason considers itself the only sufficient culture and banishes all other cultural realities to the status of subcultures, it diminishes man, indeed it Threatens his Humanity", he warned.

    Particularly when "there are concerted efforts to recognize only Positivism as a common culture and a common basis for law-making, reducing all the other insights and values of our culture to the level of subculture, with the result that .... vis-à-vis other world cultures is left in a state of culturelessness, and at the same time Extremist and radical movements emerge to fill the vacuum", he denounced.

    - " In its self-proclaimed exclusivity, the positivist reason which recognizes nothing beyond mere functionality resembles a concrete Bunker with no windows, in which we ourselves provide lighting and atmospheric conditions'"...

    - " Success can also be seductive and thus can open up the path towards the falsification of what is right, towards the destruction of justice. “Without justice – what else is the State but a great band of robbers?”, as Saint Augustine once said."

    -"We Germans know from our own experience that these words are no empty spectre. We have seen how power became divorced from right, how power opposed right and crushed it, so that the State became an instrument for destroying right – a highly organized band of robbers, capable of threatening the whole world and driving it to the edge of the abyss"; he denounced.
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    =>     On the contrary,  "the windows must be flung Open again, we must see the wide world, the sky and the earth once more; and learn to make proper use of all this !", Pope Benedict strongly urged.

    "But how are we to do this? ....How can reason rediscover its true greatness, without being sidetracked into irrationality?", he wondered.
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    Recalling "one of the developments in recent political history", he observed that "the emergence of the Ecological movement in German Politics since the 1970s, while it has not exactly flung open the windows, nevertheless was and continues to be a Cry for Fresh air" :

    Because "Young people had come to realize that something is wrong in our relationship with Nature, that matter is not just raw material for us to shape at will, but that the earth has a Dignity of its own and that we must follow its directives...  If something is wrong in our relationship with reality, then we must all reflect seriously on the whole situation and we are all prompted to question the very foundations of our culture'"; Since then, "the importance of ecology is no longer disputed. We must listen to the language of nature and we must answer accordingly",he underlined.
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    + "Yet I would like to underline a point that seems to me to be neglected, today ......  there is also an Ecology of Man. Man too has a nature that he must respect and that he cannot Manipulate at will. Man is not merely self-creating freedom. Man does not create himself. He is intellect and will, but he is also nature, and his will is rightly ordered if he respects his nature, listens to it and accepts himself for who he is, as one who did not create himself. In this way, and in no other, is true Human Freedom fulfilled.
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- "Of key significance for the Juridical culture of Mankind", is how "'the juridical culture of the West was born", in a "pre-Christian marriage between law and philosophy" :

- "Christian theologians ...aligned themselves with a philosophical and juridical movement that began to take shape in the 2nd century B.C. In the first half of that century, the social Natural Law developed by the Stoic philosophers came into contact with leading teachers of Roman Law". "This encounter, ... opened up the path that led via the Christian Middle Ages and the juridical developments of the Age of Enlightenment all the way to the Declaration of Human Rights, and to our German Basic Law of 1949, with which our nation committed itself to “inviolable and inalienable Human Rights", he reminded.

- "For the development of law and for the development of humanity, it was highly significant that Christian theologians aligned themselves against the religious law associated with polytheism, and on the side of philosophy, and that they acknowledged reason and nature....as the universally valid source of law". And "this seemed to offer a clear explanation of the foundations of legislation up to the time of the Enlightenment, up to the time of the Declaration on Human Rights after the Second World War and the framing of our Basic Law", (the current German Constitution of 1949).

+ "....Europe’s Cultural Heritage ought to come to our assistance", Pope Benedict stressed at this crucial juncture.

. "The conviction that there is a Creator God ... gave rise to the idea of Human Rights, the idea of the equality of all people before the law, the recognition of the inviolability of human Dignity in every single person and the awareness of people’s responsibility for their actions'"

- "The Culture of Europe arose from the encounter between Jerusalem, Athens and Rome – from the encounter between Israel’s monotheism, the philosophical reason of the Greeks and Roman law. This 3-way encounter has shaped the inner Identity of Europe", he reminded.

=> Now, "we are called to defend at this moment in our history", the "Criteria of Law", established by "the awareness of man’s Responsibility before God, and in the acknowledgment of the inviolable Dignity of every single Human Person", Pope Benedict concluded.

More than 96.000 People welcomed, shortly afterwards, the Pope at Berlin's impressive Olympic Stadium, for an open air Mass, attended by almost all German Government too. 

EU's Fundamental Rights Agency's (FRA) Director on Equality and Citizens' Rights, Ioanis Dimitrakopoulos, speaking to "EuroFora" at the CoE in Strasbourg, highlighted what EU expects from the PanEuropean "Summit of Mayors on Roma" People's itegration, organized by the Congress of Local and Regional Auhorities of Europe (CLRAE), whose President, British liberal Keith Whitmore, opened the event in cooperation with the City of Strasbourg's Mayor, French Socialist senator Roland Ries :

- "It sounds very Political, but it's Time to Start Acting !", the representative of EU's Fundamental Rights' Agency, stressed from the outset to "EuroFora".

- "Everybody says that it's about Time to put Words in Action" on Roma People integration, and, in fact, "That's what many Mayors are actually  doing". Already, "I'm glad to hear and see that a lot has been done", he noted.

- But, "the Next Step is to go on in a more Coordinated fashion", including "All Levels of Government", and this is, I think, where, to a large extend, the Problem lies", Dimitrakopoulos warned.

=> "That's why the (EU) Commission took the Initiative to create a Roma "Task Force".  It's a 1st of its kind. The (EU) Roma TaskForce help(ed) the (EU) Commission to develop the Framework (Program)/Plan). So, now, we have  an EU Framework.

>>> Currently, "the (EU) Member States are creating their own National Plans and Strategies", due before the end of 2011, "and there (in such Plans/Strategies) they have to involve also the Local Authorities, and what the LA actually do"

- "It's about how to InterLink now, between authorities, be it local, National, Regional or Local". This brings us back to what you said "Links between the Levels": - We have a Project, called : "Joint Up Government" : It's about inter-linking efficiently the differend levels, against Exclusion".

For such purposes, EU has already some "27 Billions € earmarked", he pointed out.
And EU Member States' part, "Co-Financing, is, comparatively, Small at this moment : F.ex.,= specially for a Country like Greece, it's particularly small, following the recent Decisions", Dimitrakopoulos observed.

"But, what we need to see at the same time,  is to look at previous Years, the level of Consumption :" - Who has been utilizing, ? Who uses these Funds ? 

- "Is it Countries with Large Roma Populations ? Is its Romania ? f.ex. , is it Bulgaria ? Is it Greece ?, etc.  Is it Hungary, the Czech Republic, SLovakia ? + What is their Level of Absorption ?, he wondered.

=> In fact, "it's in France, Italy, in Spain, etc, that there are much More High Levels of spending !", revealed the EFA Official.

- "Because this is related (also) to Good and Effective Administrations. So, a lot of Work has to be done, in Developing the Capacity of (National/Local) Administrationbs", EFA's Official pointed out.

 - 'But, "are they all (LA), really Willing to act efficiently ?", asked "EuroFora".   

 - In fact, apparently, "Mayors are "Mixed"", admitted FRA's Top Official, (See also infra). But "I don't know if they're other occasions" to start acting efficiently, he warned.                --------------------

Meanwhile, Education and Housing/Jobs apparently toppled most participants' attention among various Thematic Workshops organized at the CoE during the overall Conference :

- Referring to "Education",  specialized CoE Officer Helen Tsetseku, pointed "EuroFora"'s attention to the obvious :  In fact, <<from there starts everything about Integration>> of Roma, she stressed.

F.ex., among Roma living in some regions in Greece today, experienced Mayors of Chalkidona and Pella (northern Greece), Panagiotis Daikoudis and Grigoris Stamkos, told "EuroFora" that :  

- Just 60% of Roma Children complete an Elementary School, (i.e. 40% don't even do that !) ;

- Only 12% or 13% arrive at the Three first Classes of High School (College) ;

- About 2% or 3% are ending Lyceum (Bac. Level),

- so that less than 1% (some 0,5% only) arrive at University level !...

=> "The greatest Problem is at High School level, i.e. at an age when Roma Children "enter in the Production sphere", as Mayors from Greece told "EuroFora". Particularly when Work is Legal from 16 years of age", they observed...

Thus, it wasn't a surprise to find French Expert Jean-Pierre Liégois, Founder of "Gypsy Reseacrh Center" at Paris' University Rene Descartes, and Author of the Book "Gypsies and Europe", choose to become "Moderator" of the Workshop dedicated, precisely, to he "Equal Right to Education"...
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However, CoE's organizers prefered to place 1st, at the Plenary Sesssion's Room, those Workshop debates which were dedicated to "Housing, Health care and Employment", which are obviously crucial issues; particularly in order -to tackle immediate needs which cannot wait. It was not astonishing to find ou that even the 2 Greek Mayors who had given some Roma Education Statistics to "EuroFora" (See supra), had chosen this Workshop, that they considered as the most important in real practice..

There, participants heard, among others, an apparently Positive Experience, described by a Spanish delegate from Madrid's area, about a succesful project on Housing Roma People. The Spanish representative admitted that it was rather "Expensive", but worthwhile..
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Tsetseku told "EuroFora" that almost all 47 CoE Member Countries had sent at least 1 or 2 representatives to CLRAE's exceptional event on Roma.

However, as even other collegues, from the local Strasbourg's Media (f.ex. DNA, etc) witnessed, unlike other CPLRAE's meetings, this one was exceptionaly attended by just a few Mayors (about 50), and "none from any major city", with the only exception of the current Strasbourg's Mayor, Roland Ries (Socialist). Also exceptionally, CoE's Secretary General, Thornbjorn Jagland, and EU Commissioner Viviane Reding, didn't attend personally, sending only a Video with a kind salute from far away...

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Finally, denouncing in a "Declaration", the "persistent Exclusion and discrimination of Roma in local and regional communities across Europe, made evident by their continued marginalisation and lack of access to education, housing, healthcare and employment", as they said,  the participants decided to "establish a <<European Alliance of Cities and Regions for Roma Inclusion>>, to be set up as a framework for co-operation, sharing of good practices, strengthening local and regional capacities for action, identifying specific problems and proposing solutions, and helping to ensure funding for Roma activities at the grassroots level". Already, a "Core Group", due "to build this Alliance", was established by  6  EU cities and regions (Aubervilliers/France, Kavarna/Bulgaria, Malaga/Spain, Region of Madrid/Spain, Heraklion/Greece and the 5th district of Bucharest/Romania) .

Turkey, recently discovered as No 1 area of origin for Roma People among CoE's 47 Countries, was reportedly represented in this Conference, but didn't play yet an important role, unlike Romania, (No 2 area of origin).