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CROCEU meeting with European Parliament Vice-President Antonella SBERNA

On Tuesday, 28 January 2025, a delegation of the Committee of Representatives of the Orthodox Churches to the European Union (CROCEU) paid a visit to Mrs. Antonella SBERNA, the European Parliament Vice-President responsible for the implementation of Art. 17 of TFEU provisions concerning the dialogue between religious communities and EU institutions.


His Eminence ATHENAGORAS of Belgium and Rev. Fr. George VALCU, CROCEU's Moderator and General Secretary, respectively, thanked Mrs. SBERNA for the swift relaunch of the dialogue, following the EU elections last year, with a dialogue seminar having already been organised on December 10, 2024, focussing on the importance of intergenerational dialogue in addressing Europe's future challenges. Equally important, they also pointed to the necessity for this dialogue to be further developed and for new ways to be found and implemented to give it a deeper dimension and increase the chances that it results in concrete policies for the good of all European citizens. Increasing the number of Art. 17 events, with both high-level representatives and experts-level dialogue on the current work-topics of the EU's agenda; going beyond Brussels, by way of organising dialogue sessions and visits to EU Member States; scheduling the dialogue sessions on specific files in the preliminary stages of the legislative process - these are but a few of the possible ways that were identified to ensure an open, transparent, regular, but equally so consistent and effective dialogue between Churches and the EU.


In turn, Mrs. SBERNA expressed her wish for this set of actions to develop smoothly in the following years, acknowledging the important role that religious communities play in the social fabric of most EU countries and thanking the Churches for their constant effort to provide a very specific contribution to the betterment of EU policies.


The conclussion was reached that a new meeting should be organised soon by the Art. 17 Secretariat of the EP, bringing toghteher Art. 17 stakeholders in drafting an action plan for the content and the structuring of this dialogue over the following few years.


Also attending the meeting were Mr. Nicola CENSINI, EP Coordinator for Article 17 TFEU - Dialogue with Churches, religious and non-confessional organisations, and Mr. Andrea LEONARDELLI, parliamentary assistant to the Vice-President.

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