by Alessandro di Maio
In the context of the current Covid-19 pandemic and its dramatic effects on all EU Member States, on Thursday 28 May 2020 the COMECE Social Affairs Commission releases the statement “Let Europe recover through justice”, giving the contribution of the Catholic Church to the proposed EU recovery plan. Mgr. Hérouard: “The EU has the opportunity to take an important step forward in asserting and expressing its solidarity”.
The COMECE statement calls the EU to renew the spirit of solidarity and to agree on a recovery plan that puts the question of justice at its centre. “An ambitious recovery plan – reads the position paper – would be a visible sign that the EU and its Member states have returned to the track of solidarity”.
“This crisis may be an opportunity for the European Union to take an important step forward in asserting and expressing its solidarity, supporting Europe to recover through ecological, social and contributive justice”, states HE Mgr. Antoine Hérouard, President of the COMECE Commission on Social Affairs, who led the elaboration of the document.
According to COMECE, a recovery fund that enables the EU Commission to raise resources for the member states in need would also be meaningful for the many EU citizens that felt disappointed by the European project following the self-centric actions taken back in March 2020 by the member states. A plan of this a nature would also be in line with Pope Francis’ call for “further proof of solidarity, also by turning to innovative solutions”.
The COMECE contribution finally invites EU and national public authorities to shape the discussion on the recovery plan towards the common good, for a “joint recovery that expresses the ambition to work for a just future in a renewed spirit of solidarity”.
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Photos:
La Voix Du Nord/Pascal Bonniere
EPA/Olivier Hoslet
