Church leaders from across Europe have met the presidents of the European Commission, Council and Parliament to discuss the importance of human dignity and tolerance in ongoing efforts to build a Europe united in its diversity.

The high-level meeting, the third of its kind, was organised by the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso. He was joined at the meeting by the current President of the European Council, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Poettering.

The Rev Jean-Arnold de Clermont, President of the Conference of European Churches, said: "To promote human dignity and human rights as well as tolerance must be key in the European integration process."

Bishop Wolfgang Huber, representing the Evangelical Church of Germany, underlined the universality and unconditional nature of human dignity. Dignity had to be attributed to every human being as created in the image of God, he said, adding that it was a common task of the religious communities as well of the European institutions to enable every individual to participate in society.

The meeting stressed the need for a theological reflection on human dignity and to place human dignity at the centre of key European policy areas such as migration, development policy and the 7th research framework programme.

Chancellor Merkel stressed the importance of dialogue with religious communities and praised them for making a key contribution to European societies. She said she expected the "open, transparent and regular dialogue" between religious communities in Europe and the European institutions to continue under future EU presidencies.

President Poettering echoed the need maintain good relations between the religious communities and to hold more meetings between the EU presidents and European church leaders.

The Rt Rev Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, was also present at the meeting. He highlighted the importance of religious education in schools, which he said was essential to "religious literacy, growth in spiritual awareness and ethical clarity".

Bishop Christoph Klein, representing the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Romania, addressed the meeting as the representative of a new member state of the European Union and of a region has long had peaceful relations between various religions, ethnic and religious communities.

He said tolerance had to be more than just living next to each other but go to the level of "the acceptance of the otherness of the other". As one of the hosts of the Third European Ecumenical Assembly in September 2007, he referred to the Charta Ecumenica as an important instrument to strengthen church dialogue across Europe and its different cultures.

The meeting concluded with a consensus among the EU and church leaders that human dignity and tolerance are pillars upon which a Europe united in diversity has to be built. It must also form the cornerstone of Europe's relations with other parts of the world, they said, adding that the preservation of human dignity and tolerance remained a common task of the religious communities as well as of the European institutions and their member states.