The CPCE Council welcomes the adoption of the EU Treaty by the citizens of Ireland. The European integration process must however be rooted more strongly in the population.

Press release 20/2009

The Council of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE) welcomes the approvement of the new Treaty of the European Union, the Lisbon Treaty, in the Irish referendum. From a Protestant perspective the new Treaty of the European Union is an important contribution to the European integration process, the Council pointed out today in its meeting in Geneva. The Treaty provides the European Union with a common value basis. The European Charta of Fundamental Rights embodied in the new Treaty makes provision for fundamental rights to be included in the new Treaty with the same legal status.

The European Union is dependent on the support of the people for the European integration process. The difficult ratification process of the EU Treaty shows that for many people in Europe the European Union is too far from its citizens.

The referendum in Ireland is a mandate for European leaders to root the European integration process more strongly among its citizens. The regular, open and transparent dialogue of the European institutions with the churches and religious communities, for which the EU Treaty is providing a legal basis, can contribute to this. The churches can bring to this process their strong rootedness in society.

The CPCE Council expresses its hope that the new Treaty shall make the European Union and its 27 member states more able to act, provided that the EU Treaty is finally ratified in Poland and the Czech Republic.

The Council is the decision making body of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE). It is meeting about every ninth month, at the moment the members are meeting together with the deputy members from 2nd – 4th October 2009 in Geneva.

Geneva, 3 October 2009

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At present 105 Protestant churches in Europe (including five South-American churches originating from Europe ) belong to the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE). Lutheran, Reformed, United and Methodist along with pre-Reformation churches such as Hussites and Czech Brethren grant each other pulpit and table fellowship on the basis of the Leuenberg Agreement of 1973. The Secretariat is housed in the Severin-Schreiber-Gasse 3, A-1180 Vienna, office@leuenberg.eu, tel. +43.1.4791523.900, fax .110 The CPCE press officer is Dipl.theol. Thomas Flügge (Bern), tel. +41.31.3702502, t.fluegge@leuenberg.eu.

03.10.2009 Thomas Flügge

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