2011-12-07

The 20th Congress of the European People’s Party is being held between the 7th and the 8th of December in Marseille. On the occasion of the Congress, heads of state and government of the EPP will hold a consultative meeting in preparation for the upcoming EU Summit in Brussels.

The participants of the Congress are high level decision makers, such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who is currently holding the Presidency of the European Union, and Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament.

The Congress analyzed the EPP’s role in the European integration process. They convened that the EPP Group had a large role to play in dismantling the Iron Curtain that brought on political, historical and cultural changes to the states of Central Europe. The EPP considers that nation states alone cannot protect European values and interests. However citizens need to be explained the added values and rationale of EU level decisions. Monitoring is also required for a more efficient implementation of these decisions. Speakers stressed that EU decisions need to be made more transparent because in some cases, low level, national or regional decisions seem to be more efficient.

DAHR’s MEP Csaba Sógor spoke about the situation of the Mediterranean states and the “Arab sping” the joint meeting of the EPP and the EPP Group in the European Parliament. The Hungarian MEP from Transylvania considers that the EU needs to rethink its relationship with the traditional national minorities that live within its borders. He said that the EU should first and foremost bring measures that stop discriminatory practices in its member states.

- Fraco Frattini said that we cannot allow the persecution of Christians. My is question is: how can we support those countries in the democratic transition so that they stop persecuting Christians and uphold fundamental human rights, if Christians are being persecuted today within the EU, Christians who belong to traditional national minorities? How can we do this? Through state language laws and collective guilt reaching back to the Second World War? One of our member states has recently revoked some of its citizens’ citizenships just because they’ve received the citizenship of another member state as well – he said.

The MEP feels that the biggest help the EU can offer is through example. – We need to stop those infringements, we need to stop discriminating national minorities in the EU. We should appreciate them and set an example to the African states that are making their firsts steps on the road to democracy – Csaba Sógor concluded.