Conference of European Churches – Office of Communications
Press Release No.10 - 03/e
29 January 2010

Churches Urge the European Union to Strengthen the Ethical Dimension of its Economic Policies
“Implementing fundamental rights and values must be a priority”
- Church and Society Commission of CEC’s Contribution to the “EU 2020” Consultation

The European Union is at the moment revising its long-term strategy for the next decade. The process has been started with a public consultation of the European Commission on the new “EU 2020” strategy. The objective of this strategy is to develop EU’s economy into “a new sustainable social market economy”.

In its response to the Consultation, the Church and Society Commission of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) is stressing the need to strengthen the ethical dimension of EU’s policies: “The European Churches have been disappointed to see that the value basis of the European Union, as laid out in the Treaty of Lisbon, has hardly been taken up in the Working Document of the European Commission on the future ‘EU 2020’ strategy.”

The Church and Society Commission of CEC asks the European Union and its Member States to make the implementation of fundamental rights and values a key priority in its “EU 2020” strategy. Rüdiger Noll, Director of the Church and Society Commission, explains: “The economic crisis has revealed that a socially, ecologically, and globally committed market economy is morally far more demanding than is generally realised. In order to endure, market structures must be embedded in a system of values supported by all relevant stakeholders. It is an ethical task to balance self-interest with economic, social and ecological responsibility.”

The contribution gives a number of examples for the implementation of ethical principles in the areas of education, science and technology, employment, social inclusion and democratic participation.

The Contribution of the CEC Church and Society Commission can be found on the CEC website: http://csc.ceceurope.org/index.php?id=838

Website of the European Commission on EU 2020: http://ec.europa.eu/eu2020/

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The Conference of European Churches (CEC) is a fellowship of some 120 Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican and Old Catholic Churches from all countries of Europe, plus 40 associated organisations. CEC was founded in 1959. It has offices in Geneva, Brussels and Strasbourg.

The Church and Society Commission (CSC) is one of the commissions of the Conference of European Churches (CEC). The CSC links CEC’s some 120 member churches from all over Europe and its associated organisations with the European Union’s institutions, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, NATO and the UN (on European matters). Its task is to help the churches study church and society questions from a theological social-ethical perspective, especially those with a European dimension, and to represent common positions of the member churches in their relations with political institutions working in Europe.

For more information:
Church and Society Commission of CEC
Rev. Dr. Dieter Heidtmann
Phone +32 2 230 17 32
Fax +32 2 231 14 13
e-mail: dht@cec-kek.be
website: www.ceceurope.org