Sixty representatives from thirty European countries were gathered in Brussels this week for a conference on Social Europe organised by the Conference of European Churches (CEC) and Eurodiaconia.

|TOP|The conference, which ran from 22 to 24 November, addressed the future of the European project with a particular focus on the development of the European social model.

During the opening session, Archbishop Karl Gustav Hammar of the Lutheran Church of Sweden stressed the role of the churches in the development of a social Europe: “The contribution of the churches to a social Europe must be more than giving support to certain priorities on the social agenda of Europe.”

Archbishop Hammar continued: “The contribution is to be a more radical one (in the literal sense of the word), to ask for the roots of our social activity.

“As churches we must move beyond comparison and competition, the win-lose race in the economic world, and emphasise what unites human beings, a basic value that is given and not won in competition, a common longing for peace and justice that is our only security and a willingness to share in order to grow together.”

|QUOTE|The conference was also attended by former EU Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs between 1999 and 2004, Anna Diamantopoulou, who opened the conference, running under the motto “A common vision for a social Europe: Towards quality of life for all”.

Ms. Diamantopoulou, now a member of the Greek Parliament, said: “What the different social models have in common is that solidarity at the European level is something the State has to deal with.

“There is a social network where not only the State and the local authority participate but civil society as well. In our reforms we have to strengthen and organise in a better way the participation of civil society.

“This means that churches and their structures can play an even more important role,” said Ms. Diamantopoulou.

|AD|Dr Georg-Hinrich Hammer, Director of the Friedehorst Foundation, Bremen, Germany, said: “Perhaps the most problematic thing lacking in European policy is the spiritual dimension. To become the best economy is a strategic goal but not a vision which inspires people. And so people are not inspired.

“But if people have to work very hard for Europe and have to suffer for Europe they need at least a social vision and they need a common spirit with which to build the new community,” he said.

Director of the Church and Society Commission of CEC, Rev. Ruediger Noll, said that the conference had been “very well placed in time”, adding that churches were definitely contributing to the debate by reflecting on a Europe committed to social cohesion and protection.

This sentiment was echoed by Secretary General of Eurodiaconia, Heidi Paakjaer Martinussen, who added: “We must realise that no matter how many jobs and how much growth we create, this will not eradicate spiritual or physical poverty. Social cohesion should not be seen as an appendix but as a part of creating a dynamic society with quality of life for all.”