Press Release

Istanbul, 11 June 2000

Appeal to a dialogue with Islam ends two-days meeting of EPP-ED and the Orthodox Church

The 4th Dialogue between the EPP-ED Group of the European Parliament and the Orthodox Church ended with the approval of a common declaration in which both parties appeal to a dialogue with Islam. Considering that European Christian Democracy and the Orthodox Church share many common ethical values with Muslim religion the participants in this dialogue underlined the importance of discussion.

At the opening session of the 4th Dialogue, the EPP-ED Group chairman Mr. Hans-Gert Poettering and HAH the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I have, both, underlined the symbolism of the City of Istanbul as the crossroad that unites the western to eastern world and Christianity with Islam, and sized the opportunity to praise for an opening to a dialogue with the other big monotheist religion that is Islam.

Mr. Wim van Velzen, vice-chairman of the EPP-ED Group presenting the conclusions of the two-days meeting said specified the appeal: “A dialogue between European Christian Democracy and Islam is necessary. Dialogue with Islam requires of parliamentary participants a good knowledge of their own faith. Our own dialogue is a rediscovery of faith. Can we learn enough from one another in order to progress our unity as churches and as a political group, in order to meet Islam in due course? The proximity of orthodox Christianity to Islamic peoples means that our future dialogue can become still more profound and extensive as the Group prepares for its first encounter with Islam”.

In the common declaration the EPP-ED Group and the Orthodox Church expressed their belief the with regard to civil society and the churches as partners that “the financial, technological and material strengths of Europe, which result from the Single Market and the adoption of a single currency, must serve the spiritual, moral, cultural and social aims of people”. And emphasized that “the churches have a primordial role in conjunction with parents in the education of children by inculcating in them an understanding of the importance of spiritual and moral values in their personal lives and in their life in society”.

Regarding the human and fundamental rights it is stated in the common declaration:

the importance of the Charter of Fundamental Rights which is currently being drafted in the framework of the European Union which underlines the will of the Union to implement the ethical and spiritual dimension of human existence and thereby giving a new dimension to the Union beyond economics and politics;

the importance of clearly stating the dignity and the integrity of human beings in this context and their ability of self-determination; and in this context that not only the freedom of individuals needs to be protected, but also collective rights, such as the freedom of religion and of religious education, and the rights of minorities;

the human and fundamental rights can only be effectively implemented for the individual with at least a minimum of material conditions and prosperity, and that this aspect may not be neglected by the European Institutions;

and the conviction that the EU is endowed with the economic and technological capacity to address the key environmental difficulties in industrial, urban and agricultural situations, and to address the problems posed for human health and by the exploitation of biotechnology, and to provide for the highest standards of environmental protection for the quality of life;

It was also decided the continuation of this dialogue on a permanent basis by setting up two joint standing working groups including representatives of the various churches in the European Union and the EPP-ED Group; these working groups will deal with human and fundamental rights and civil society on the one hand and the role of the church and state on the other hand, which will prepare the next annual Dialogue meeting between the churches and the EPP-ED Group. The Fifth Dialogue between the churches and the EPP-ED Group will take place in 2001 at the Orthodox Academy of Crete (OAC), Crete, Greece, on the invitation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Presidency of the EPP-ED Group.


For further information please contact EPP-ED Group Press Officer Mr. Yannis Zografos (GSM +32 75 598189)