The Project
The idea of a “Network of journalists for Europe” has grown in recent years through meetings with media people in different European countries. As far as possible, we would like to renew an already known experience: sharing reflexions and proposals about the future of the “common European house”, through the methodology of workshops on line.
As we are in a sceptical and pessimistic context, we think it is needed to say a word of hope and encouragement, even though we know the limits of the European institutions today and, above all, the crisis of identity that Europe is undergoing at present time and that worries us.
In this experience, the use of the new technologies will enable an exchange of ideas at a distance. There will be a very light structure in terms of organization.
After the first exchanges, we may consider the possibility of an European meeting.
Eurcom – Journalists for Europe is an initiative of the Pro&Per Association (Progetti&Percorsi – Projects and Paths)
Guidelines
«The presence of Christians, properly trained and competent, is needed in the various European agencies and institutions, in order to contribute – with respect for the correct dynamics of democracy and through an exchange of proposals – to the shaping of a European social order which is increasingly respectful of every man and woman, and thus in accordance with the common good.» (Ecclesia in Europa, 117)
Published on June 29, 2003, this passage of the post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation “Ecclesia in Europa” is a fundamental contribution to the reflection and the engagement of those working for the media in Europe, in the light of the Gospel. The responsibility for helping to “define a European conviviality” is in fact a growing international awareness, concerning both the European reality in its consistent intermingling of history, culture and humanity, and in the peculiar political and institutional experience of the European Union. Together with this twofold awareness there is also an attention to the role Europe is called to play for peace, justice, development and solidarity in the world.
In these guidelines, what has already been stated in important national and international documents about codes of conduct and professional ethics is not repeated. The guidelines simply propose some steps in the context of a common and shared path of Christian-oriented professionals aiming at the full growth of the European Union.
The initiative “Journalists for Europe” proposes:
Three Choices
- Awareness: to give the message that Europe is “a task and a destiny” for each citizen. It is a task and a destiny we have to re-think about, in a time of deep and rapid changes. It is also a task and destiny we have to build with the richness of our diversities.
- Specific contribution: to highlight the spiritual dimension and the determining Christian contribution to the European construction, aiming at reconciliation, peace, justice and solidarity, inside and outside Europe’s boundaries. In this perspective an accurate and precise information about the thinking and life of the Christian Churches in Europe is essential;
- Transparency: to correctly and promptly inform the public opinion about the life of the national and European institutions, drawing the attention also on the action of those, eg lobbies, who work for their own exclusive interest, undermining democracy and the common good.
Four Engagements
- To pay always a careful attention to the social, cultural, political and spiritual life of this Europe, that goes beyond the 28 EU countries and includes 47 countries of the Council of Europe.
- To pay always a careful and steady attention to the relations between Europe and the other continents particularly about issues like human rights, peace, environment,
- To reflect upon the life and thinking of the churches in each European country and of the European church institutions (CCEE, Comece, KEK-CEC), in relation to the most relevant ethical issues in the cultural, political institutional debate.
- To take care of an adequate update about the functioning of the EU;
An objective
To encourage and support the growth of a European consciousness and citizenship, informing and communicating in such a way that people may become more and more aware of their responsibility and more and more capable to respond with words and deeds of hope to the many challenges facing each country, Europe and the other continents.
In this perspective, professional ethics become an irreplaceable context for Christian journalists to meet with colleagues belonging to other religions and other cultural backgrounds, so that they may contribute to the growth of freedom and democracy, to ensure the respect for human dignity and rights, to cooperate in the construction of the common good, in Europe and in the world.
In order to achieve this objective, Christian journalists believe it indispensable to act professionally in the light of the Gospel.
Who we are
Paolo Bustaffa (Italia Italy) – Erich Leitenberger (Austria Austria) – Eduard-William Fartan (Romania Romania) – Juan Luis Vázquez (Spagna Spain) – Jean Jacques Berset (Svizzera Switzerland) – Anna Teresa Kowalewska (Polonia Poland) – Jean-Jacques Durré (Belgio Belgium) – Johanna Touzel (Bruxelles) – Alberto Campoleoni (Italia Italy) – Iva Mihailova (Bulgaria Bulgaria) – Sébastien Maillard (Francia France) – Ludwig Ring-Eifel (Germania Germany) – Paulo Rocha (Portogallo Portugal) – Francesco Rossi (Italia Italy)