EUROPE AND THE WORLD
EN | IT | FR | ES – SIGNIS (the World Catholic Association for Communication) condemns unequivocally the terrible attack on the offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris on 7 January. As communicators we reaffirm our commitment to work for a culture of peace which respects the life and dignity of everyone. We also reiterate our support for the fundamental principle of freedom of expression and for all those journalists around the world who face the threat of death or injury in carrying out their profession.
EN | IT | FR – We are all French, “we are all Europeans” also. This statement comes easy after the carnage in Paris that has struck such a terrible blow to France, as well as to the values and cultural world that nourish the entire continent. What happened in Paris was not just an attack against a target that terrorists had defined as ideological – the magazine that had published cartoons portraying Mohammed – but is actually a clash between different views of the world and man.
EN | DE | IT – In Germany today, the media and teachers are very active against anti-Semitism, against the latent hostility toward Jews and Judaism. However, in the context of the Gaza war, last summer, in many places “anti-Israel” rallies were organized which degenerated into demonstrations of anti-Semitism.
EN | IT – One month before the end of the semester of Italian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Italian Catholic Action proposed a reflection on the changes in the international context in which the Union itself is active. While reconstructing the evolution and geopolitical direction of the Union, the director of the journal of international politics “Limes”, Lucio Caracciolo, analyses the “ideological crisis” of Europeanism based on those ideal tensions that aimed to “overcome” the national State.
EN | IT | FR | DE – A Free Trade Treaty is currently being negotiated between the United States and the European Union. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) remains controversial and raises a number of concerns. COMECE Bishops wished therefore to learn more about the economic and ethical aspects of the Treaty and explore it in greater detail on the occasion of their Autumn Plenary Assembly held on 12 and 13 November 2014 in Brussels.
EN | IT | FR | DE – As the European Parliament prepares to debate legislation on responsible mineral sourcing (“conflict minerals”), 70 Church leaders from 26 countries on 4 continents signed a common statement urging the EU to make the legislation’s requirements consistent in scope and binding for companies, rather than the current voluntary approach.
EN | IT | FR – On November 1, closes Mare Nostrum, the massive humanitarian operation carried out by means of the Italian Navy, in collaboration with the Port Authorities, which has actually created a humanitarian channel in the Mediterranean, through which in 2014 over 150,000 people, mainly from Syria, Egypt and Palestine, Eritrea and Somalia, some in sub-Saharan Africa, such as Mali, Nigeria, Gambia and Senegal, have been carried to safety. Among them, there were 23,000 children, of which more than 12,000 without a family.
EN | IT – After the recent declarations, the public opinion is keenly awaiting, especially in the States south of the European Union, for the reinforcement of operations in the Mediterranean sea by Frontex, the European agency for external border control. However, there are still serious doubts about what could be the real effectiveness of the new operations, whose announcement has been coldly received by the central and northern European countries, first and foremost by Germany.
EN | IT – The Council of European Bishops’ Conferences has sent a letter signed by the Presidents of Bishops’ Conferences from the entire continent members of CCEE to the United Nations Security Council. In it the bishops call on the international community to take urgent “decisions to put an end to the atrocious actions against Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq”. A copy of this letter will be handed over to different European governments and European Union authorities that they might join in this appeal.
EN | IT | FR | DE – The statement of CCEE’s Presidency for Immediately peace in Iraq.
