Category Archives: Press

Press

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From Messina in 1955 to Berlin in 2007

The COMECE Seminar planned for Rome in March 2007 to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Rome Treaties will be the main focus of the forthcoming COMECE plenary. The plenary meeting will take place from 22-24 November 2006 in Brussels. Prof. Hans-Gert Poettering, President of the EPP-ED Group in the European parliament, will speak with the COMECE-Bishops on the challenges of the Berlin declaration, which … Continue reading »

Ethics, Research & Health, Policy Areas, Press

News

Shaping a framework for future-proof Social and Healthcare Services. A Contribution of the Churches and Church Organisations

Churches and church-related Organisations, such as Caritas and Diaconia, are major providers of social and healthcare services in the European Union. In a Dialogue Seminar with the European Commission they underlined their particular commitment to provide social and healthcare services in order to serve European citizens and the common good of the EU. In accordance with a long-established practice, the European Commission, together with the … Continue reading »

Press

News

Fifty years after the Treaty of Rome – Which values for the European Union?

To mark the 50th Anniversary of the signature of the Treaty of Rome, COMECE (the Commission of the Bishops’s Conference of the European Community) will organise a European Congress in Rome on 23- 25 March 2007. This will bring together Bishops, members of catholic laity movements and representatives of religious orders to discuss the values system on which the European project is based. In order … Continue reading »

Press

News

First Meeting of the “Comité des sages” yesterday

During a press conference held yesterday in the secretariat of the COMECE in Brussels, Mgr Noel Treanor, Secretary General of the Commission of the Bishops Conferences of the EU, presented the “Comité des Sages” established by COMECE to help prepare the Congress which will take place in Rome from 23-25 March 2007. This Congress will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the signature of the Treaty … Continue reading »

Press

News

Introduction of the Comité des Sages called together by the EU-Bishops

In view of the 50th Anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, which will take place on 25 March 2007, the Bishops of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE) have called together a Comité des Sages and assigned it with the preparation of a report on the significance of ethical values for the European unification. The Bishops hope … Continue reading »

Press

News

What does the European Identity consist of?

From 2 September 2006, 80 students from 25 countries participate in the 2006 COMECE Summer University. From September 2nd through September 16th, the 7th COMECE Summer University organized in partnership with the Karl Franzens University and the Diocese Graz-Seckau, will take place in Graz (Austria). Its theme is: “European Identity: Policy, Society, Religion”. The programme is made up of lectures, group- and plenary-discussions. The particular … Continue reading »

Ethics, Research & Health, Policy Areas, Press

News

Set Back for the Protection of Embryos: The European Union faces a Major Bioethical Challenge

The Secretariat of COMECE has followed the preparation of the 7th Framework Research Programme for the period 2007-2013. It expresses its profound deception regarding the decision of the European Council of Ministers on 24 July 2006. The Catholic Church recognises the importance of developing an economy based on knowledge, research and innovation in the European Union. To this end the 7th Framework Research Programme is … Continue reading »

Justice & Fundamental Rights, Policy Areas, Press

Press Release

Churches meet with Finnish Presidency

As Finland assumes the Presidency of the European Union for the coming six months, a Delegation on behalf of the Churches met on Friday 30th June with the Finnish Foreign Affairs Minister Mr.Erkki Tuomioja and officials from the Ministries of Education and Labour. The Delegation was led by the Archbishop of Turku, his Excellency Jukka Paarma (Head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland). Other … Continue reading »

Ethics, Research & Health, Policy Areas, Press

News

COMECE dismayed that the European Parliament promotes the instrumentalisation and destruction of human embryos

On 15 June 2006, the European Parliament voted in first reading on the 7th Research Framework Programme and called for EU funding of research with human embryos and human embryonic stem cells. Mgr Noel Treanor, Secretary General of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE), made the following statement: COMECE is supportive of an effective EU research policy in the service … Continue reading »

Press

Press Release

Statement of the Executive Committee of COMECE

on the occasion of the Competitiveness Council and the vote in the European Parliament’s ITRE Committee on the 7th Research Framework Programme on 30 May 2006 in Brussels. The Executive Committee of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE) takes note of the ongoing negotiations about the 7th Research Framework Programme in the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. On … Continue reading »