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EP Conference on Lebanon and Syria: "The EU can not stand aside!"

On Tuesday, January 28, 2025, the European Parliament in Brussels hosted a very well attended conference on the current humanitarian and - more widely speaking - social situation in Lebanon and Syria.

The event was hosted by French MEP François-Xavier BELLAMY (EPP) and occasioned a set of testimonials by representatives of Christian organisations that have been active in these countries for decades, while at once reaffirming the need for the EU to use all possible instruments - such as the Mediteranean Pact - to protect and preserve the Christian presence in the region or halt the exodus of Christians, which has reached critical levels .


Opening the conference, Mr. BELLAMY pointed to the millennia-long history of the Christian communities in today's Lebanon and Syria, them always having been an integral part of these societies. Over the past few decades however, we have been witnessing an obvious and exponentially accelerating process of diminishing the Christian presence over these lands. "Europe can not allow itself to stand away from this situation, as Europe's very roots are linked to this region. We have a duty to help preserve the heritage that we have in common," he said, with reference to the Greco-Roman, as well as the Jewish civilisations that are an integral part of todays's European identity, decisively determining our values, customs and worldview.


From amongst the speakers, Rvd. Fr. Youseff NASR, Secretary General of the Catholic Schools in Liban, and Mr. Vincent GELOT, Country Director Lebanon-Syria-Jordan of L'Œuvre d'Orient, both offered an overview over the huge social work that is done by Church related organisations in that area, to the benefit of the entire populations - Christians, Muslims or other religious and ethnic groups. As much as 80% of the social services - health, education, food relief etc - provided to the people living there, as citizens or refugees - are depending on projects such as the ones run by L'Œuvre d'Orient, which makes it of tantamount importance for these projects to continue.


Also present in the panel, Mgr. Pascal GOLLNISCH, General Director of L'Œuvre d'Orient, referred extensively to the ongoing social evolution in Syria, following the instalment of a new political regime. He advocated for the EU to keep a close eye on how things are developing, aiming at a maximally efficient presence in the shaping of the new reality of the Syrian society, one that would ideally have to be based on the respect for the freedom and equality of all citizens.



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