30/11/2020
COMECE Contribution to EC Consultation on Long-Term vision for rural areas [EN]
Category Archives: Ethics, Research & Health
Scientific research and technological development make a major contribution to the integral development and the quality of life of human beings, especially, but not only, in the area of health where new therapeutic options become increasingly available. They are also an important motor of economic growth. COMECE chiefly covers the bioethical issues that arise at the EU level in the ambits of health and of research, although the main competences with regard to these matters remain largely at the Member States’ level. COMECE is assisted in this mission by a Working Group on Ethics.
Press Release
COMECE on Covid-19 vaccines: “vulnerable people and health workers should come first”
“Future Covid-19 vaccines should be available, affordable and accessible, especially for elderly people, ill persons and health workers”. This is one of the messages sent to the EU and its Member States by the Assembly of the COMECE Working Group on Ethics, which gathered in video conference on Thursday 1 October 2020 to exchange on the “Ethical challenges of Europe in times of the Covid-19 … Continue reading
NEWS
A sustained ethical discourse has to accompany discussions on regulating AI
In its contribution to the ‘Consultation on the White Paper on Artificial Intelligence – A European Approach’, COMECE calls the EU institutions to adopt a human-centric approach to Artificial Intelligence (AI) in order to promote the common good and serve the lives of all human beings both in their personal and community dimensions. The COMECE contribution, published on 14 June 2020, welcomes the White Paper’s … Continue reading
14/06/2020
COMECE contribution to the Consultation on the White Paper on Artificial Intelligence – A European Approach (EN)
Press Release
Time for the EU to take a stand for the rights of the elderly
Up to half of the people who died of Covid-19 in Europe are elderly people and many of them were residents of long-term care facilities. “It is time to stop the ‘culture of waste’ and focus on more public policies supporting families”, states the General Secretary of COMECE on Wednesday 13 May 2020. In the current pandemic, elderly people represent the most vulnerable part of … Continue reading
NEWS
Covid-19, COMECE welcomes EGE call for vigilance of restrictive measures
COMECE welcomes the statement recently released by the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE), calling the EU and its Member States to be vigilant on the “necessity and proportionality of any policy and technological intervention that – taken in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic – suspends, even temporarily, fundamental rights”. Since late February 2020 the EU and its Member States … Continue reading
Press Release
“Light a candle on Easter Eve”: European Bishops call faithful to give a sign of hope
In view of the upcoming Easter Sunday celebrations, H. Em. Card. Jean-Claude Hollerich SJ and H. Em. Card. Angelo Bagnasco, respectively Presidents of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) and of the Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE), invite all Catholics to spread a message of hope by lighting a candle at their window on Easter eve. “It … Continue reading
Press Release
New technologies, “Rome call for Artificial Intelligence ethics”
“The scope and acceleration of the transformations of the digital era have in fact raised unforeseen problems and situations that challenge our individual and collective ethos”, stated Pope Francis in his message addressed to the participants of the international workshop “The ‘good’ algorithm? Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, Law, Health”, organised on 26-28 February 2020 at the Vatican on the occasion of the 26th General Assembly of … Continue reading
Press Release
World Day of the Sick: COMECE welcomes EU plan against cancer
On the occasion of last week’s World Day of the Sick, COMECE welcomes “Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan”, recently launched by the European Commission to propose actions for all stages of the disease. Pope Francis: “solidarity, subsidiarity […] and cooperation to ensure that everyone has access to suitable treatments for preserving and restoring their health”. Recent statistics show that every year, in the European Union, 3.5 … Continue reading
NEWS
COMECE on new technologies: “need to intensify the public debate for a human-centric approach”
The Assembly of the COMECE Working Group on Ethics gathered in Brussels on Monday 7 October 2019 to discuss on national and EU developments in the field of ethics, and took stock of the recently published COMECE reflections on “Robotization of Life” and “Uncrewed Armed Systems”. In the context of the legal and ethical EU framework for Artificial Intelligence (AI) indicated by Ursula von der … Continue reading