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Press Release

Istanbul, 9 June 2000

Conclusions
of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, participating autocephalous orthodox churches
and the Presidency of the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats
on the occasion of the Fourth Dialogue
8 –9 June 2000 at the Fener


The participants in the Fourth Dialogue

  • reaffirm their conviction that every human being is a person that is a unique irreplaceable being, totally irreducible, free by nature and open to transcendence and that each human being within society depends on others. Therefore they have a responsibility to take part in the construction of society;
  • reaffirm that the principle of subsidiarity includes rights and responsibilities for each person and that this in our view should be the guiding principle for European construction and political life in civil society;
  • confirm their strong commitment to give life to reconciliation, cooperation and solidarity as the bases for peace and stability throughout the European continent;
  • confirm - in a city which has always been a crossroads between west and east and between Christianity and Islam - its openness to dialogue between cultures and religions with a view to defining values underpinning society and which are coherent with the religious life of Christians and Muslims

    with regard to civil society and the churches as partners

  • confirm that faced with profound changes in society, Europe should refine the common shared values on which it is based, such as peace, justice, tolerance and human rights and democracy, and that the future of Europe will depend on how integration will be linked with such values;
  • believe 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;
  • emphasize 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 ;
  • state the important role of the churches as partners in implementing such values and underline in this context the importance of Declaration No 11 to the Treaty of Amsterdam, and insists in this context that the status of churches and religious communities should be given enhanced legal status by the Nice Summit by its incorporation into the Treaty;
  • underline that the churches are an integral and essential part of European society and that they play a most important role in the common effort for a European civil society based on pluralism, tolerance, respect of human and minority rights and democracy; however in application of the principle of subsidiarity, the state and the churches are independent entities playing each their own role and having their own tasks and responsibilities in this context;
  • express deep concern about declining awareness among Europeans of values and virtues, which were prepared by the spirit of the Greek and Roman antiquity and are based on biblical traditions, as evidenced by the “European Values Study” conducted by the Foundation “European Value Studies” in 1981,1990 and 1999-2000, and call on the research establishments of member political parties to analyse these studies with the aim of making recommendation for political action;
  • are convinced that effective adherence to the values and principles of Christianity, which are the bases of common European values, is most important when defining European unity and European identity, and insists that the biblical tradition is the basis for a Europe which is unified in diversity, recognising the presence of Judaism and Islam within the European Union as well as in accession states;

    with regard to human and fundamental rights and quality of life

  • underline 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;
  • confirm the importance of clearly stating the dignity and the integrity of human beings in this context and their ability of self-determination;
  • underline 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;
  • are aware that 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;
  • are convinced 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;

    with regard to the results of the Fourth Dialogue meeting in Istanbul

  • express their satisfaction with progress made in the definition of common values with regard to civil society, human and fundamental rights and the role of the churches in European society;
  • are determined to promote the church as a key partner in civil society for its spiritual and moral wellbeing;
  • decide to continue 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;
  • decides that 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.

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