R.I.P.E. - Religious Innovation and Pluralism in 21 Century Europe

European Union

"It is an imperative condition of democracy that every citizen enjoys the fondamental rights of freedom of expression and freedom of belief.
The defence and the promotion of these two fundamental rights can and must be brought together.
In order to do so, the European Commission holds a dialogue with both religious and non-confessional organisation and takes duly account of the issues in the formulation and implementation of his policies." Maria da Graça Carvalho, 06 september 2006.

The dialogue with religions, churches and communities of conviction
Since the 1980s successive Presidents of the European Commission have felt it desirable to maintain a dialogue about European integration between Churches, Religions and Communities of conviction on the one hand and the European Commission on the other. The Bureau of European Policy Advisers is entrusted with this task. The benefits lie in better knowledge of the significance of European integration on the part of the religions and other communities of faith and conviction and in the light that they for their part are able to shed on contemporary political trends. A growing number of religious organisations have already appointed permanent representatives in Brussels for this work.
The European identity is composed of a large variety of languages, cultures, traditions and religions. “United in diversity” is the motto of the European Union (Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, Art. I-8), a proof that commonly shared values are the basis of our Union. Religious values play a very important role for the European citizens and consequently the European Union enjoys a spiritual dimension. The role of religions in building up a united Europe has been acknowledged in the Commission’s White Book on European Governance where is it stated that “Civil Society plays an important role in giving voice to the concerns of citizens and delivering services that meet people’s needs. Churches and religious communities have a particular contribution to make.” (COM 2001/428 final, page 14)
Art. I-47 and I-52 of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe take up this theme. Art. I-47 “participatory democracy” deals inter alia with the confessional, religious NGOs and members of civil society. Art. I-52 refers explicitly to the religions and churches as transcendental institutions with their specific religious component. For the first time in the history of the European integration process, religions and churches have been firmly acknowledged as partners of the European Union, specifically taking into account their transcendental character. Both articles are equally pertinent to the communities of conviction.

Due to the important role of our partners, the European Union has underlined in the Constitutional Treaty and in other documents the intention to maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with them. This dialogue has already been a long standing tradition for the European Commission, which will be codified by the Constitutional Treaty.

“Open” simply means that everyone interested in participating in and contributing to European integration policy is welcome to do so. No one is excluded. Declaration 11 annexed to the Treaty of Amsterdam and Art. I-52 (1) of the Constitutional Treaty assert that the European Union has no competence to define the church state relationship, neither on a national nor on a European level. The European Commission therefore accepts as dialogue partners all organisations recognised as churches, religious communities or communities of conviction by Member States of the Union.

“Transparent” means that everyone must have the chance to know at any time about the partners (list pdf document 47 Kb), aims and outcomes of the dialogue. The purpose of this site is to increase the transparency of the dialogue and to inform people about regular events and the latest developments.

“Regular” must be understood as permanent dialogue. On July 12, 2005 Commission President Barroso met with leading representatives of the three monotheistic religions and they enshrined the principle of a continuous dialogue. This informal consultative meeting will be convened twice a year with the Commission President in order to discuss commonly shared topics or subjects of major concern to either party.

The dialogue referred to above is a communication tool between the European Commission and the religions, churches and communities of conviction. It should not be confused with inter-religious dialogue (between religions), which concerns only the churches themselves.

European opportunities
The BEPA, Bureau of European Policy Advisers, website: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/policy_advisers/index_en.htm
Here you can find all about activities of the European Union in the field of religion: Publications, Legislation, Articles, Events, Documents and so on.