Annual Convention on Poverty

European Economic and Social Committee The President

EESC President's Speech at the Assembly of the Union of the Minor Friars of Europe (UFME)

“Europe, a mission and a challenge” European Franciscan Project Instrumentum Laboris

Lisbon / Fátima (Portugal), 18 October 2011

I am very happy and honoured to be here with you. I am Protestant and you are Catholic. My personal life and professional life have always been oriented towards dialogue, diversity, sharing common values and building on differences, respecting and promoting human fundamental rights. I am also a convinced European citizen and I want to believe that I act like one.

I feel you promote the same values. And I am here to listen and debate with you on how inter-confessional dialogue and religions can improve the European part of our lives.

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For a good dialogue I am here to speak as well as to listen very carefully and with a lot of curiosity what will be said, especially on the important topic you have chosen for your annual meeting: “Europe, a mission and a challenge”.

Europe. As President of the EESC, I have made "Engaging people for a sustainable Europe" the political message of my mandate, and I have made sustainability a sort of mantra for my words and actions. I have grouped my work programme priorities into three main themes: Dialogue and participation – sustainability and growth - solidarity and development. The three of them fits very well with the message of St Francis: The relevance today of the Franciscan message is to be a response to the various challenges of globalization. For the Franciscans, the world is seen as a common house (Domus Pacis). I also see Europe as a constantly changing continent over the years. What we call Europe has evolved throughout the centuries. Sometimes very small geographic area, sometimes Russia and many Southern countries included. Our Europe today is peaceful – yesterday it was a field for war. Things change, it is on people to decide that they have a common culture.

Dialogue and participation When I speak about dialogue, I mainly refer to the dialogue we have with civil society across Europe and beyond Europe. According to the Lisbon Treaty, for the first time the institutions are obliged to give civil society and representative associations the possibility to express their views and engage in open, transparent and regular dialogue. Dialogue also means listening, not just voicing one's own views. And the Committee intends to continue playing its role of a bridge between civil society organisations and - 3 -

EU institutions. And here today I feel I am in this process of dialogue, as the Franciscans are undoubtedly part of civil society. I like to mention here how Pope John Paul II called the Franciscan: Friars of the people.

Respect of diversity and culture is an enabler for dialogue. Culture in all its forms is a reflection of diversity; it provides perspective, raises questions and challenges, and it can give us new ways of looking at ourselves and our environment. Europe's diversity is reflected in its cultures. The Franciscans insist on the respect for all humans, despite their differences: tolerance and respect for the truth of the other. These are European values!

A theme which is very dear to me and the EESC heart is the dignity of every human being. I know well that the Franciscans are precursors of human rights since they see that every human being as created by God has a right (William of Ockham, Bonaventura), before the English jurists. This approach includes ecumenism and interreligious dialogue. Taking this same approach, the EESC intends to organise a seminar, in Stockholm, next year, on inter-confessional dialogue and we would be delighted to invite the Franciscan representatives to participate.

Sustainability and growth Sustainable development is a strategy broadly defined as a way of meeting everyday needs without jeopardising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. For me, sustainability should be the umbrella strategy embracing all policy areas: environmental, economic and social. In Franciscans view, respect of the created world, recalls the ecology and respect for the environment. It is even deeper than that, because it is not limited, - 4 - defensively, to respect the world in order to live well, but because it is, created by God and, as such, it is an ecology of solidarity and therefore not of interest.

Solidarity and development In my work programme I started this chapter with these words… "For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me"

The main pillars of this work programme priority of the EESC presidency are aid and development, and combating poverty and hunger. This is especially true in the context of the crisis where poverty and hunger are spread not only outside Europe but very much inside. Yesterday I was in Krakow for the first Annual Convention of the Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion. And I said it there: We must ensure that the measures to reduce public deficits put in place by Member States do not exacerbate the problems of those who are already facing the greatest difficulties. We must recognise that social protection systems are vital as automatic social and economic stabilisers. In the light of this approach, we will organise next month a joint meeting of our sections concerned with economy and social matters, so that they can jointly reflect on how to mitigate the effects of the crisis and how to get out of it, taking into account both economic and social side of it. The EESC has been very active last year in the context of the European Year against poverty, when we even set up a permanent group to follow it, but we continue our engagement, notably through the active participation to the new- born European Platform against Poverty. - 5 -

This reminds me of the approach of Franciscans, according to which all property belongs to everyone on the basis of needs. Only after they have been met, come the right to private property.

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For further details: Coralia Catana | EESC President's Spokesperson | +32 (0)25469963 | +32 (0)498984613 E-mail: [email protected] | [email protected] Internet: http://www.eesc.europa.eu/?i=portal.en.staffan-nilsson-speeches

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