News Release

‘As national sovereignty becomes an economic fiction…it retains its political prestige. Lisbon changes nothing in this respect’, writes Frank Turner SJ, in today’s publication: ‘Perspectives on Europe’, the September issue of Working Notes, the journal of the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice. 

There is a certain dishonesty built into the whole debate as member states claim maximal benefits from the EU while minimising their commitments to anything that they, individually, find uncongenial. ‘Such an attitude is difficult to acknowledge publicly’, adds Turner.

Turner, who is Director of the Jesuit European Office in Brussels, continues in the article: ‘What is hidden from the public is not the presence of some supposed stipulation of the Treaty that would insidiously erode national sovereignty, but the nationalist solipsism that wants things both ways’. This can lead to an attitude of my country versus the other 26. 

Turner views the lack of ambition in the Treaty to address economic individualism and exclusive national sovereignty, as ‘massive obstacles’ to an EU that seeks social justice.

Solidarity

‘The solidarity valued at the heart of European integration, within and beyond the Union, will have to take on new and urgent meaning in the light of present-day problems’, Says Cathy Molloy, Social Theology Officer of the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice.

Molloy, who also contributes to this issue of Working Notes, writes, ‘There are apparent contradictions in wealthy countries allocating money for aid to developing countries without seriously addressing their own part in causing the need for that aid.’

She cites Climate Change and Trafficking in Persons as examples of ‘issues of global importance which cannot be adequately addressed by individual nations’. ‘The enlarged EU, with all its settling down processes, represents a major step-change in the attempt to bring about improved social and economic conditions for the member states, while looking also to the responsibility of the EU to developing countries’.

[ends]

For further information or for interviews contact:
Eoin Carroll, Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, Tel: 01 855 6814; Mobile: 087 225 0793; email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

[Notes]
Frank Turner is a Jesuit of the British Province. Based in Brussels, he is Director of OCIPE, the Jesuit European Office. The title of his article is, ‘Towards the Lisbon Treaty: The View From Europe’, published in ‘Perspectives on Europe’, September Issue of Working Notes, the journal of the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice.

Cathy Molloy is Social Theology Officer with the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice.

The Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice is an agency of the Irish Jesuit Province. The Centre undertakes social analysis and theological reflection in relation to issues of social justice, including housing and homelessness, penal policy, asylum and migration, health policy and international development.

Also contributing to this issue of Working Notes

Brendan Mac Partlin SJ discusses the European Social Model and how it has fared as the Union has developed.
Edmond Grace SJ writes about the problems of bureaucracy in modern politics and Government.
James Corkery SJ presents an account of the thinking on Europe of Pope Benedict XVI.