f

EHF and the European Commission

This menu gives quick links to the contents of this page, which summarises our activities in reverse chronological order, with links as necessary.

2010

Letter to President Barroso about Article 17 Dialogue

2009

Letter to Commissioner Louis Michel
Working lunch with Presidents of Commission and Parliament
Protest to Presidents of Council, Parliament and Commission about EHF exclusion from top level dialogue meeting
Reply to Commission on EU dialogue under Article 17
Protest at exclusive language in equality handbook
Letter to Commission: UN HRC draft resolution on defamation of religion

2008

Letter to Commission: threats to secular nature of EU - December 2008
EHF warns that Discrimination Directive may reinforce discrimination by Churches
EHF President speaks at EU conference on Intercultural dialogue
Letter to President of the EU Committee of the Regions: exclusion of non-religious beliefs - November 2008
Letter to President Barroso: Planned General Directive on Non-Discrimination - April 2008
Address by President Barroso to our Colloquium on Human Rights - April 2008
Request for Invitation to Dialogue Meeting with Religious Representatives - April 2008
Letter to President Barroso: UN Human Rights Council - April 2008
Letter to President Barroso: Article 16C (viz, 17) - January 2008

2007

Response to Consultation on "Schools for the 21st Century" - October 2007
Meeting with President José Manuel Barroso - July 2007
The European Dream - March 2007
Letter to President Barroso - February 2007

Before 2007

Bergamo Conference - November 2006
Year of Intercultural Dialogue - October 2006
EHF’s 15th Anniversary - June 2006
Meeting with President José Manuel Barroso - November 2005
Dr Rocco Buttiglione - October 2004
The Future Shape of Europe - March 2003
Guidance on Applying to the EU for Funding - July 2002

EHF and the Bureau of European Policy Advisors
EHF and the EU Group of Advisers on the Ethical Implications of Biotechnology (GAEIB)
EHF and ‘A Soul for Europe’

June 2009

Working Lunch at the Berlaymont

On 26 June the EHF and other "non-confessional" organisations were invited to a working lunch with President Barroso and President Pöttering at the Berlaymonth building in Brussels. Read a full report here.

Following that lunch we wrote to one of the Commissioners present, Louis Michel, about the risks of allowing undue exceptions for religious believers from non-discrimination laws: read our letter and the reply sent on his behalf (after he had ceased to be a Commissioner).

April 2009

EHF protests at exclusion from top-level meeting

For the fifth year running, the EU has organised a top-level consultation with representatives of various religions but has excluded organisations representing non-religious lifestances. In 2007 and 2008 the EHF asked to be invited and was either ignored or rebuffed.

This year the EHF wrote to the Presidents of the EU Council, Parliament and Commission on 21 April seeking to be invited to this year's top-level meeting between them and senior religious leaders from the Jewish, Christian and Muslim religions. We take the view that there should be no discrimination on grounds of religion or belief in such invitations. The meetings deal with 'secular' topics - last year's discussed climate change, for example, and this year the subject is ethics and economics.

But before any reply was received (except from the Czech presidency of the Council, who did not know of any such meeting being organised), we found out that 20 senior Christians, Jews and Moslems had been invited to a meeting on May 11 to be chaired by the President of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, and the President of the Parliament, Hans Gert Pottering.

We responded with emails to the three Presidents in similar terms - here is the text of the one we sent to Hans Gert Pottering.

EHF responds to Commission on Participation in Dialogue under Article 17

The EHF responded to the letter from BEPA taking issue with our approach to dialogue under Article 17. We refute the idea that we have tried to use the dialogue to criticise religion, list the reasons why we are concerned about the implicit bias of the dialogue, repeat our willingness to participate in dialogue on matters within the competence of the EU and point to the many examples of such participation in the past.

March 2009

Protest at biased language in Equality Handbook

We wrote to Vladimír Špidla, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, about the tendency for the European Handbook on Equality Data to use the exclusive term 'religion' where it should have used 'religion or belief', including non-religious beliefs. He sent us a reply in May.

EHF seeks firm EU action on UNHRC resolution on defamation of religion

The EHF wrote on 12 March 2009 to President Barroso expressing alarm at a draft resolution from Pakistan, backed by other members of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, calling for so-called "defamation of relgiion" to be made a criminal offence. We asked the EU to ensure that there was a more vigorous response from its member states than hitherto:

The European Humanist Federation therefore wishes to urge the EU and its Member States, in concert with the USA, to use this new resolution to mark a new, vigorous and outspoken stand against Islamist subversion of human rights. The cause must be given higher priority in our diplomacy with the Islamist ‘fellow-travellers’ such as Russia, China and Cuba; and there must be an end to equivocation and restraint in our statements on the matter to members of the OIC.

EHF protests at threats to secular nature of EU

The EHF wrote to BEPA to point out the extent to which the EU was aligning itself with the churches and religion in general. We quoted as instances our exclusion from the annual May meetings with the presidents of the Commission, Council and Parliament, two recent meetings of the French presidency with churchmen and with member state delegations representing Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and EU participation in a forthcoming large Christian rally in Brussels. A reply from the Commission reply was received in February and a response sent in April (see above).

November 2008

EHF warns that Discrimination Directive may reinforce discrimination by Churches

The EHF sent comments to the EU Commission on its draft directive to ban discriminaton in areas beyond employment, which was covered some years ago. We warn that the directive risks giving legal support to the widespread discrimination practised by the churches and other religous bodies. If the exceptions for religion cannot be very narrowly defined, we say it would be better for the Directive to leave out religious discrimination altogether.

A reply was received in January 2009 from EU Commissioner Vladimir Spidla.

EHF President speaks at EU conference on Intercultural Dialogue

David Pollock, EHF President, was a "key contributor" to an invitation-only EU conference on "Intercultural Dialogue - A Challenge for Faiths and Convictions?", held in Brussels on 11 November 2008. About 100 people attended from 21 countries and many international organisations, including the two bishops' conferences. There were three sessions, each with two main speakers and a panel of commentators. The first session was on education (it included strong endorsement of the OSCE Toledo guidelines) and the second on the media. The third session was on "Challenges for Dialogue between Faiths and Conviction", and the two key speakers were Vebjørn L. Horsfjord, general secretary of Religions for Peace, and David Pollock. You can read his remarks here.

Letter to President of the EU Committee of the Regions

On November 5 2008 we wrote to Mr Luc Van den Brande, President of the EU Committee of the Regions, about the exclusively religious view of intercultural dialogue apparent in the programme for a Forum due to be held on "Intercultural dialogue at the heart of Europe's cities and regions".

April 2008

Letter to President Barroso: Planned General Directive on Non-Discrimination

We wrote to President Barroso on 18 April 2008 urging that there should be no retreat (much rumoured at the time) from the plan for a general directive against discrimination in areas outside the workplace (already covered by a 1999 Directive). We have so far not received a reply but the draft Directive published on 2 July 2008 has the general scope we wished for.

Address by President Barroso to our Colloquium on Human Rights

President Barroso addressed an EHF conference on April 16 2008 - details of the conference and a copy of his address are here.

Request for Invitation to Dialogue Meeting with Religious Representatives

When we ascertained in early April 2008 that there was to be another high level meeting between the three EU Presidents - of the Commission, the Council and the Parliament - to discuss climate change and intercultural dialogue, we asked for an invitation so as to be able to represent the huge non-religious population of Europe. We were refused. See the correspondence here.

Letter to President Barroso: UN Human Rights Council

In the wake of numerous abuses by Islamic states in the UN Human Rights Council - well documented on the IHEU website - we wrote to President Barroso on 1 April 2008 suggesting that the democratic nations withdraw from the Council and set up a new international council genuinely concerned about Human Rights. His reply is also here.

January 2008

Complaints about implementation of Article 16C

We wrote to President Barroso about the way the Commission is implementing Article 16C (now Article 17) on dialogue with the churches and non-confessional groups such as ourselves. Our letter and his reply of 17 March are here.

October 2007

We responded in October 2007 to the EU Commission’s consultation paper on Schools for the 21st Century: read our submission here.

July 2007

An EHF delegation met the President Barroso at his invitation on July 5, 2007. We raised issues concerning the dialogue with churches and non-confessional organisations, our worries about the situation in Poland and other matters. Read more here.

March 2007

EHF published a booklet, The European Dream, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. A Press Conference was called on 26 March 2007 to launch the booklet and was addressed by Philippe Busquin, a former member of the European Commission.

The booklet reprinted the Brussels Declaration and Secular Vision for Europe. It includes an open letter to President Barroso in defence of secularism, and a major paper that presents a clear statement of the values and aspirations for a Europe in which democracy is participative as well as representative. It is a Europe in which our shared citizenship creates a true solidarity and cohesion across the continent, thereby contributing to the struggle against poverty and social exclusion. It is a Europe respectful of everyone's freedom, where unfair discrimination on irrelevant grounds - sex, sexuality, age, race, disability, religion or belief - has no place. It offers a landmark of tolerance in a troubled world.

February 2007

The President of the EHF wrote to President Barroso on 27 February 2007 seeking parity of treatment with the churches. His letter and President Barroso’s reply are here.

November 2006

Bergamo conference

The General Secretary of the EHF took part in the Bergamo conference on how to promote a European public space where citizens are better informed and engaged in EU policies and in the debate on the future of Europe. He made a presentation on the subject.

October 2006

EHF responded to a consultation paper from the EU Commission with ideas for the planned Year of Intercultural Dialogue. In the event our hopes of winning a grant to undertake a project for the Year were dashed owing to the nature of the grants structure for the Year.

EHF’s 15th Anniversary

On the occasion of our 15th anniversary we issued a lengthy memorandum that dealt in part with a range of issues relating to the European Union.

On 9 November 2005 the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, received a delegation from the EHF in the building of the presidency in Brussels.

The meeting concentrated on the need to develop a society based on tolerance, democracy and solidarity, on freedom of conscience and on equality between men and women. In particular no discrimination should be accepted - in particular, non- believers should enjoy in all the countries of the European Union equal consideration with those professing religious convictions. The EHF sought impartiality of EU institutions, particularly in ethics committees and in the appointment of experts.

President Barroso underlined the importance of developing a dialogue to bring together the European Union and its citizens. He pointed out that the values of the Union are also those of humanism.

The EHF’s then President, Steinar Nilsen, wrote a fuller account of the meeting and a press release was issued.

October 2004

Dr Rocco Buttiglione

In October 2004, we welcomed the European Parliament’s rejection of Dr Rocco Buttiglione as a candidate for membership of the EU Commission, and later issued a statement welcoming Commission President Barroso’s final handling of the issue.

March 2003

The Future Shape of Europe

In early 2003, we made several contributions on polices for the European Union in the context of discussion of a possible European constitution.

We made a submission on sustainable development.

We issued a call for universal and extensive public services.

We called for 'ethical, social and cultural debate on the rationale and the utilisation’ of scientific research and technological development and for public consultation on the subject.

We insisted that the European Charter of Fundamental Rights be incorporated in the planned Constitution.

We called for the EU’s objectives to be ‘pursued within a sustainable development perspective, able to respond to the needs of present generations without jeopardizing the capacity of future generations to respond to their own needs. Such a development will aim at keeping a right balance between the demands of economy, the improvement of living conditions and the limits imposed by the physical environment and the use of natural resources’.

We also demanded that the Constitution include a structure for ‘dialogue between civil society and the European institutions, under the political responsibility of the European Parliament,’ that associations seeking their recognition by the Union should have ‘an internal democratic legitimacy, in accordance with the criteria set out by the European Economic and Social Committee’, and that there should be no ‘distinction between associations, whatever their philosophical or religious beliefs may be’.

Guidance on Applying to the EU for Funding

In July 2002 we issued guidance to Member Organisations on applying to the EU for funds. NB: This is now partially out-of-date.

EHF Activities
EHF and the European Institutions
EHF and the European Commission
Opposing Special Rights for Churches in the EU
EHF and the European Parliament
EHF and OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
EHF and the Council of Europe
Other representations
EHF conferences
Collaborative Work
The Brussels Lunch Club