Public opinion needs reassurance - EU bishops

European bishops have called for public opinion to be reassured on the merits and effectiveness of the European Union, adding that Europe possesses values deeply rooted in 2,000 years of Christian tradition.

Europe's underlying values "are not matters of a moment", they say in a report entitled A Europe Of Values - The Ethical Dimension Of The European Union.

The report was launched yesterday in Rome by an "experts" committee of the Commission of The Bishops' Conferences of the European Community (COMECE).

Written by 25 prominent Europeans - including Fr Peter Serracino Inglott - the report was timed to coincide with today's European Congress organised by COMECE together with Catholic movements and organisations on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome.

The congress, between today and Sunday, is entitled Values And Perspectives For Europe. The Maltese delegation is being led by Archbishop Paul Cremona.

The report pays tribute to the post-war generation of leaders for putting an end to Europe's bloody conflicts.

"Their task was difficult. Today's problems are no less challenging: Globalisation, climate change, demographic explosion in some parts of the world and an ageing population in others, poverty and social exclusion, growing scarcity of vital resources such as water and energy, mass migration, pandemics and the increasing risk of local conflicts and international terrorism.

"But today's leaders are also better equipped than their predecessors, 60 years ago. Whatever their failings, the multilateral institutions established and developed after World War II have created a network of cooperation, unheard of in previous centuries, which can promote responsible outcomes on fundamental issues of international concern," the report says.

It insists that a new generation of Europeans must consolidate the just peace, equitable prosperity and balanced power "which 50 years of effort have brought within our reach". To do that, Europe's leaders must address new and pressing problems, namely:

• Public opinion needs to be reassured on the merits and effectiveness of the European process and convinced of its values, so that citizens commit themselves to the common good it pursues.

• The Union needs a system of economic governance and sustainable social solidarity fit for the 21st century.

• Globalisation cannot be wished away. It needs to be managed and regulated so that its great potential for wealth creation is harnessed to the benefit of all. The EU stands as an instrument of that management and that regulation.

• Climatic change, energy supply, preservation of the environment on a world scale need urgent attention, and the Union should play a leading role on those issues.

• Security in the widest sense implies promoting economic development and fighting against poverty. But also combating international crime and terrorism, addressing the question of mass migration and, as the Union has been doing, promoting international law. As a responsible power, the Union will need to be involved in peace making and peace keeping in many areas of the world.

The report goes on to say that such problems need to be tackled at the European level, while respecting the principle of subsidiarity.

"As we seek global solutions the individual weight of each member of the Union is weak, even at times insignificant. But when they act together, their combined weight allows them not just to defend their interests better but also to promote just and equitable solutions.

"That is why our ability to take decisions - to go beyond the intergovernmental debate to find, through the Community method, the common good of all - is not simply a technical question, it is a prerequisite for being able to solve our common problems and to exert our influence for good in the world debate.

"In its decision making the Union will always need to respect the fundamental values it stands for, including human dignity and basic human rights. In that context the constant progress of scientific research raises major ethical problems, especially in the field of life sciences," the report says.

The EU, it goes on, must become more aware of the strength that lies at the heart of the values it enshrines: dignity of the human being and human rights, peace, freedom, democracy, tolerance, respect for diversity and subsidiarity, and the search for the common good without any one group being dominant over another.

It adds: "The Union stands for solidarity between its own members and between them and others, especially the underprivileged. It stands for responsibility in seeking answers to the world's problems. More than its institutions or policies, it is the values the Union represents which most account for the interest it arouses, the repute in which it is held around the world and the hope it creates."

"That has been the work of half a century. Those underlying values, that moral bedrock, are not matters of a moment. Their roots lie deep in 2,000 years of Christian tradition, as also in the traditions of other creeds and philosophies. Those values and that tradition are as potent now as they were in the past. They must remain the foundation of our common endeavour, which we must pursue with consistent and determined leadership.

"Then the European project will once again become for our citizens what it should always have been: a genuine and abiding source of pride and a cornerstone of fervent hope for the future."