For the third consecutive year the General Secretaries of the Bishops’ Conferences of the EU gathered in Brussels on Thursday 30 January 2020 to nurture their effective cooperation with COMECE in view of a strong contribution to the dialogue with the EU institutions.
General Secretaries of the EU Bishops’ Conferences at COMECE. (Credit: COMECE)
Participants analysed the new settings of the European institutions, following the last EU elections held in May 2019. In this context, the discussion also addressed the recently published work programme of the new European Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen, and the potential impact on the EU of the upcoming Brexit.
During the event, the General Secretaries also exchanged with some of the COMECE advisors on crucial topics for the role of the Church in the European Union: migration & asylum, youth policies and the external action of the EU.
In his first official meeting with the General Secretaries of the EU Bishops’ Conferences after starting his mandate in Septemer 2019, Fr. Manuel Barrios Prieto underlined the COMECE mission to dialogue with the EU, presenting needs, requests, opinions and sensitivities of the Bishops’ Conferences and highlighted “their precious role at the national level as transmitters and interpreters of EU actions”.
General Secretaries were encouraged to make the participation of their Bishops’ Conferences as substantial and active as possible within the context of COMECE Commissions and Working Groups, which are essentialand strategic in the Church’s dialogue with the EU institutions.
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