(Iasi, Romania, 22 October, 2000) - Dr Théo Junker, a director at the European Parliament and a European Civil Servant for 37 years, and Dr Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, State Secretary at the Romanian Ministry of External Affairs, were the two notable guests at a special session of the Central Committee of the Conference of European Churches (CEC), currently meeting in Iasi, Romania.

The special session had been called for by the Central Committee itself, to enable it to consider the fast changing situation in Europe and the role that the churches throughout the continent should play in forwarding the ideal of constructing a European unity.

Dr Junker, who in addition to his responsibilities at the European Parliament is a Protestant theologian, emphasised the need for churches to search for common values in Europe. These should not only be strictly Christian values, but should also contain both critical and prophetic aspects. He detailed the task of the churches, as he saw it, as covering ethical, pastoral and diaconal functions, but overall he emphasised the need for the churches and individual Christians to have strong convictions about what they want to see in the emerging European scene.

Dr Ungureanu, speaking as a representative of the Romanian government, looked forward to the European Union's enlargement process gathering pace. He emphasised that building a united Europe must include Romanian culture and religion as well as covering the economic benefits which enlargement would bring to the whole of Europe. He noted that countries of central and eastern Europe want to be in the European Union for the economic wealth that this would bring, but he also acknowledged that there are hesitations about entering a union after having "escaped" from another "union" 10 years ago. He went on to say that central European states do not choose neutrality - they are prone to solidarity. He added that after 50 years of communism it is now realised that these countries' allies lie in the west and not in eastern Europe. He also noted that he believed that the EU itself sees enlargement as the only means of survival.

In response to the presentations of the two invited speakers, two members of the Central Committee spoke - the Rev Antje Heider-Rottwilm of the Evangelical Church in Germany and Professor Dr Alexandros Papaderos of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Both emphasised the need for enlargement of the EU to go ahead and, addressing themselves particularly to the churches, recognised the "bridge" function which the CEC has played between eastern and western European churches throughout its 40 years of existence, and which needs to be continued in the current European scene.

Apart from the presentations, the Central Committee considered a series of questions under the titles of "Values for Europe", the "Contribution of the churches to the process of European Integration", "Implications of the enlargement of the EU" and "Threats for European Unity: Social, political, ecclesial".

Concluding the day, it was suggested that Central Committee members take the task of formulating the churches' response to the challenges of constructing Europe back to their own churches, and that the CEC itself continue to stimulate action and responses to the events in Europe through its ongoing programmes.