EU Bishops welcome Irish referendum result
Mgr Adrianus Van Luyn, President of the European Bishops Conference (COMECE) has issued a statement welcoming the "clear and decisive outcome" of the Referendum in Ireland on the Lisbon Treaty. He said: "The positive result raises the possibility of concluding the ratification process of the Lisbon Treaty by the end of this year.
"We, the Bishops of COMECE, have been closely monitoring the reform of the EU institutions since the Enlargement of 2004. After the rejection of the Constitutional Treaty in 2005, the European Union has put intense efforts intoreforming its Institutions in order to adapt them to the larger Union of 27 Member States; but also into equipping the EU with new instruments to face the challenges of the 21st century.
We hope that the Lisbon Treaty will allow the European Institutions to work more efficiently for the sake of human dignity and the common good. We expect that it will provide the Union with new instruments to make its voice better heard and to accomplish its responsibility for worldwide solidarity.
We expect that, thanks to the guarantees given to Ireland - the right to life, the protection of family and the right of parents to educate their children - that these rights will be made more secure in the whole Union.
We, the Bishops of COMECE, hope that as consequence of the institutionalisation of an "open, transparent and regular" Dialogue between the EU Institutions and the Churches brought about by the Lisbon Treaty (Article 17), we will be able to more effectively partner the European Union in all the areas where people are in need of justice and solidarity.
Source: COMECE