Church in the World

Bulgaria and Romania join EU ?as Christians?

Bulgaria

Catholic Church leaders in Romania and Bulgaria - which are both predominantly Orthodox - have welcomed their countries' entry to the European Union, while also vowing to ensure that their religious traditions are respected.

"We are all Euro-enthusiasts," said Bishop Christo Projkov, head of the bishops' conference in Bulgaria, speaking on Vatican Radio. "We also want to enter Europe as Christians with a 1,100-year tradition." But the bishop said that he viewed his country's integration "with realism", recognising that it also faced "risks and threats" from current EU practices such as euthanasia, abortion and same-sex partnerships. In Romania Archbishop Ioan Robu, 62, of Bucharest, told Vatican Radio the moment of accession into the EU - midnight on New Year's Eve - had been met by the ringing of church bells, as well as prayers for a "calm, auspicious and peaceful future".

Meanwhile the Brussels-based commission representing Catholic bishops from the European Union has called on the new German presidency to inject "hope and dynamism" into EU affairs. Speaking to journalists as Germany took over the EU's half-year rotating presidency from Finland on 1 January, Mgr Noel Treanor, secretary-general of the Commission of EU Bishops' Conferences (COMECE), said he hoped German leadership would provide new ways forward: the EU is to adopt a major declaration of shared values at its March Berlin summit, marking the anniversary of the 1957 Treaty of Rome that established the European Economic Community.

Among key tasks Mgr Treanor listed a programme for expansion to Turkey. "The EU doesn't consider itself a Christian club - but Turkey must meet the conditions of accession," the COMECE secretary-general said. "We must deal more intensively with Christian-Islamic relations in Europe."

In a 1 January statement, Germany's Chancellor, Angela Merkel, said she would hold "intensive talks" to revive the EU's Constitutional Treaty. Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne called on her to support a reference to God in the treaty's preamble.