European Commission
Below is a diary of our dealings with the Commission in reverse chronological order. Other relevant links are with:
the Bureau of European Policy Advisors
the EU Group of Advisers on the Ethical Implications of Biotechnology (GAEIB)
‘A Soul for Europe’
the EU Group of Advisers on the Ethical Implications of Biotechnology (GAEIB)
‘A Soul for Europe’
November 2011: Non-Confessional “Summit Meeting”
The third annual “summit” meeting of “philosophical and non-confessional” organisations with the three EU Presidents under Article 17 is reported here.
November 2011: Response on Research Policy
EHF responded to the EU’s consultation on policy on research: we concentrated on the need to eliminate religious interference with research using embryonic stem cells.
November 2011: Commission finally concedes Seminar
The EU Commission has finally – after six months – agreed in principle to our request for a ‘dialogue seminar’. The day after our press release and complaint to the Ombudsman (see October 2011 below) we received a temporising letter from the Commission. After another letter from us, they wrote again conceding our request. We are now making plans for the event. [NB: in their comments on our complaint to the Ombudsman, the Commission make it clear that the meeting is not in their view a dialogue seminar but an ad hoc meeting. The date has been fixed for 4 June 2012.]
October 2011: Complaint to Ombudsman about the Commisson
On 19 October 2011 the EHF lodged a complaint with the EU Ombudsman about the way it was being treated by the EU Commission. The complaint was focussed on the Commission’s refusal to meet us in a ‘dialogue seminar’ (a small meeting with officials such as the Commission has been holding with the churches for almost 20 years) as part of the Article 17 dialogue. The complaint, a press release, and full backing material may be found here. Coverage in the Belgian newspaper Le Soir is reproduced here (page 1) and here (page 8). The Ombudsman’s subsequent action is here, with links to later developments.
April 2011: Civil Status Documents
The EHF has responded to an EU Green Paper consultation on mutual recognition by member states of each other’s civil status documents – birth and marriage certificates and the like. Our submission concentrates on the need for the Commission not to be influenced by the opposition from “efficiently organised and well financed but unrepresentative minority religious pressure groups” who see the proposal as a way of forcing recognition of same-sex marriage, gay adoption, IVF, divorce and so on on backward states that are still resisting such reforms.
October 2010: Meeting on Poverty and Social Exclusion
On October 15 2010 President Barroso called the first top-level meeting under Article 17 between representatives of so-called “philosophical and non-confessional organisations” and the EU presidents – Messrs José Manuel Barroso (of the Commission), Herman van Rompuy (of the Council) and Jerzy Buzek (of the Parliament). EHF was represented by its President, David Pollock, and one of its vice-presidents, Pierre Galand. A full report is here.
March 2010: Request for fresh start under Article 17
With the Lisbon Treaty now in effect the dialogue with the churches and non-confessional bodies is no longer discretionary but Treaty-bound. We wrote therefore to the Commission President asking for a fresh and non-discriminatory start. We copied our letter to 22 sympathetic MEPs and to European representatives of the three main world religions that have been excluded from the annual meetings President Barroso and past-President Pottering have been holding with Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious leaders.
June 2009: Working Lunch for Non-confessionals
On 26 June the EHF and other “non-confessional” organisations were invited to a working lunch with President Barroso and President Pöttering at the Berlaymonth building in Brussels. Read a full report here.
Following that lunch we wrote to one of the Commissioners present, Louis Michel, about the risks of allowing undue exceptions for religious believers from non-discrimination laws: read our letter and the reply sent on his behalf (after he had ceased to be a Commissioner to become an MEP).
For the fifth year running, the EU has organised a top-level consultation with representatives of various religions but has excluded organisations representing non-religious lifestances. In 2007 and 2008 the EHF asked to be invited and was either ignored or rebuffed.
This year the EHF wrote to the Presidents of the EU Council, Parliament and Commission on 21 April seeking to be invited to this year’s top-level meeting between them and senior religious leaders from the Jewish, Christian and Muslim religions. We take the view that there should be no discrimination on grounds of religion or belief in such invitations. The meetings deal with ‘secular’ topics – last year’s discussed climate change, for example, and this year the subject is ethics and economics.
But before any reply was received (except from the Czech presidency of the Council, who did not know of any such meeting being organised), we found out that 20 senior Christians, Jews and Moslems had been invited to a meeting on May 11 to be chaired by the President of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, and the President of the Parliament, Hans Gert Pottering.
We responded with emails to the three Presidents in similar terms – here is the text of the one we sent to Hans Gert Pottering.
April 2009: EHF responds to Commission on Participation in Dialogue under Article 17
The EHF responded to the letter from BEPA (see here) taking issue with our approach to dialogue under Article 17. We refute the idea that we have tried to use the dialogue to criticise religion, list the reasons why we are concerned about the implicit bias of the dialogue, repeat our willingness to participate in dialogue on matters within the competence of the EU and point to the many examples of such participation in the past.
March 2009: Protest at biased language in Equality Handbook
We wrote to Vladimír Špidla, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, about the tendency for the European Handbook on Equality Data to use the exclusive term ‘religion’ where it should have used ‘religion or belief’, including non-religious beliefs. He sent us a reply in May.
March 2009: EHF seeks firm EU action on UNHRC resolution on defamation of religion
The EHF wrote on 12 March 2009 to President Barroso expressing alarm at a draft resolution from Pakistan, backed by other members of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, calling for so-called “defamation of relgiion” to be made a criminal offence. We asked the EU to ensure that there was a more vigorous response from its member states than hitherto:
The European Humanist Federation therefore wishes to urge the EU and its Member States, in concert with the USA, to use this new resolution to mark a new, vigorous and outspoken stand against Islamist subversion of human rights. The cause must be given higher priority in our diplomacy with the Islamist ‘fellow-travellers’ such as Russia, China and Cuba; and there must be an end to equivocation and restraint in our statements on the matter to members of the OIC.
December 2008: EHF protests at threats to secular nature of EU
The EHF sent a letter to BEPA to point out the extent to which the EU was aligning itself with the churches and religion in general. We quoted as instances our exclusion from the annual May meetings with the presidents of the Commission, Council and Parliament, two recent meetings of the French presidency with churchmen and with member state delegations representing Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and EU participation in a forthcoming large Christian rally in Brussels. A reply from the Commission was received in February and a response sent in April (see above).
November 2008: EHF warns that Discrimination Directive may reinforce discrimination by Churches
The EHF sent the EU Commission comments on its draft directive to ban discriminaton in areas beyond employment, which was covered some years ago. We warn that the directive risks giving legal support to the widespread discrimination practised by the churches and other religous bodies. If the exceptions for religion cannot be very narrowly defined, we say it would be better for the Directive to leave out religious discrimination altogether.
A reply from EU Commissioner Vladimir Spidla was received in January 2009.
November 2008: EHF President speaks at EU conference on Intercultural Dialogue
David Pollock, EHF President, was a “key contributor” to an invitation-only EU conference on “Intercultural Dialogue – A Challenge for Faiths and Convictions?”, held in Brussels on 11 November 2008. About 100 people attended from 21 countries and many international organisations, including the two bishops’ conferences. There were three sessions, each with two main speakers and a panel of commentators. The first session was on education (it included strong endorsement of the OSCE Toledo guidelines) and the second on the media. The third session was on “Challenges for Dialogue between Faiths and Conviction”, and the two key speakers were Vebjørn L. Horsfjord, general secretary of Religions for Peace, and David Pollock. You can read his remarks here.
The entire conference is available on video on the European Commission website, including David Pollock’s talk and a response from him about two-thirds of the way through this link.
November 2008: Letter to President of the EU Committee of the Regions
On November 5 2008 we wrote to Mr Luc Van den Brande, President of the EU Committee of the Regions, about the exclusively religious view of intercultural dialogue apparent in the programme for a Forum due to be held on “Intercultural dialogue at the heart of Europe’s cities and regions”.
April 2008: Letter to President Barroso: Planned General Directive on Non-Discrimination
We wrote to President Barroso on 18 April 2008 urging that there should be no retreat (much rumoured at the time) from the plan for a general directive against discrimination in areas outside the workplace (already covered by a 1999 Directive). We did not receive a reply but the draft Directive published on 2 July 2008 has the general scope we wished for.
April 2008: Address by President Barroso to our Colloquium on Human Rights
President Barroso addressed an EHF conference on April 16 2008 – details of the conference and a copy of his address are here.
When we ascertained in early April 2008 that there was to be another high level meeting between the three EU Presidents – of the Commission, the Council and the Parliament – to discuss climate change and intercultural dialogue, we asked for an invitation so as to be able to represent the huge non-religious population of Europe. We were refused. See the correspondence here.
April 2008: Letter to President Barroso: UN Human Rights Council
In the wake of numerous abuses by Islamic states in the UN Human Rights Council – well documented on the IHEU website - we wrote to President Barroso on 1 April 2008 suggesting that the democratic nations withdraw from the Council and set up a new international council genuinely concerned about Human Rights. His reply is also given at the link.
January 2008: Complaints about implementation of Article 16C
We wrote to President Barroso about the way the Commission is implementing Article 16C (now Article 17) on dialogue with the churches and non-confessional groups such as ourselves. Our letter and his reply of 17 March are here.
October 2007: Response to Consultation on “Schools for the 21st Century”
We responded in October 2007 to the EU Commission’s consultation paper on Schools for the 21st Century: read our submission here.
July 2007: Meeting with President José Manuel Barroso
An EHF delegation met the President Barroso at his invitation on July 5, 2007. We raised issues concerning the dialogue with churches and non-confessional organisations, our worries about the situation in Poland and other matters. Read more here.
March 2007: The European Dream
EHF published a booklet, The European Dream, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. A Press Conference was called on 26 March 2007 to launch the booklet and was addressed by Philippe Busquin, a former member of the European Commission.
The booklet reprinted the Brussels Declaration and Secular Vision for Europe. It includes an open letter to President Barroso in defence of secularism, and a major paper that presents a clear statement of the values and aspirations for a Europe in which democracy is participative as well as representative. It is a Europe in which our shared citizenship creates a true solidarity and cohesion across the continent, thereby contributing to the struggle against poverty and social exclusion. It is a Europe respectful of everyone’s freedom, where unfair discrimination on irrelevant grounds – sex, sexuality, age, race, disability, religion or belief – has no place. It offers a landmark of tolerance in a troubled world.
February 2007: Letter to President Barroso: Parity of Treatment with Churches
The President of the EHF wrote to President Barroso on 27 February 2007 seeking parity of treatment with the churches. His letter and President Barroso’s reply are here.
November 2006: Bergamo conference
The General Secretary of the EHF took part in the Bergamo conference on how to promote a European public space where citizens are better informed and engaged in EU policies and in the debate on the future of Europe. He made a presentation on the subject.
October 2006: Year of Intercultural Dialogue
EHF responded to a consultation paper from the EU Commission with ideas for the planned Year of Intercultural Dialogue. In the event our hopes of winning a grant to undertake a project for the Year were dashed owing to the nature of the grants structure for the Year.
June 2006: EHF’s 15th Anniversary
On the occasion of our 15th anniversary we issued a lengthy memorandum that dealt in part with a range of issues relating to the European Union.
November 2005: Meeting with President José Manuel Barroso
On 9 November 2005 the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, received a delegation from the EHF in the building of the presidency in Brussels.
The meeting concentrated on the need to develop a society based on tolerance, democracy and solidarity, on freedom of conscience and on equality between men and women. In particular no discrimination should be accepted – in particular, non- believers should enjoy in all the countries of the European Union equal consideration with those professing religious convictions. The EHF sought impartiality of EU institutions, particularly in ethics committees and in the appointment of experts.
President Barroso underlined the importance of developing a dialogue to bring together the European Union and its citizens. He pointed out that the values of the Union are also those of humanism.
The EHF’s then President, Steinar Nilsen, wrote a fuller account of the meeting and a press release was issued.
October 2004: Dr Rocco Buttiglione
In October 2004, we welcomed the European Parliament’s rejection of Dr Rocco Buttiglione as a candidate for membership of the EU Commission, and later issued a statement welcoming Commission President Barroso’s final handling of the issue.
March 2003: The Future Shape of Europe
In early 2003, we made several contributions on polices for the European Union in the context of discussion of a possible European constitution.
We made a submission on sustainable development.
We issued a call for universal and extensive public services.
We called for ‘ethical, social and cultural debate on the rationale and the utilisation’ of scientific research and technological development and for public consultation on the subject.
We insisted that the European Charter of Fundamental Rights be incorporated in the planned Constitution.
We called for the EU’s objectives to be ‘pursued within a sustainable development perspective, able to respond to the needs of present generations without jeopardizing the capacity of future generations to respond to their own needs. Such a development will aim at keeping a right balance between the demands of economy, the improvement of living conditions and the limits imposed by the physical environment and the use of natural resources’.
We also demanded that the Constitution include a structure for ‘dialogue between civil society and the European institutions, under the political responsibility of the European Parliament,’ that associations seeking their recognition by the Union should have ‘an internal democratic legitimacy, in accordance with the criteria set out by the European Economic and Social Committee’, and that there should be no ‘distinction between associations, whatever their philosophical or religious beliefs may be’.
July 2002: Guidance on Applying to the EU for Funding
In July 2002 we issued guidance to Member Organisations on applying to the EU for funds. NB: This is now partially out-of-date.
This content last updated 13 May 2012 @ 12:30 pm