There is and there must be a Central-European Christian vision for Europe. The continent must stand on Christian foundations, the participants of the roundtable discussion held on the Wednesday opening day of the 27th Bálványos Summer Open University and Student Camp concluded.
Szabolcs Ferenc Takács, State Secretary for EU affairs at the Prime Minister’s Office said: philosophical clashes and differences equally emerge at international, diplomatic and political talks. The question is whether there is a Central-European Christian vision. In his view, the answer is that there is and there must be one.
Democracy will be Christian, or not at all, he quoted Robert Schumann, one of the founders of the European Union. At the same time, there is an increasingly obvious fault-line between the political elite of the founder Member States and the Central-European political elite, he remarked.
He pointed out: Europe’s greatest crisis is a political leadership crisis. At this point in time, it is not even clear who is in actual fact leading the continent. At the same time, every crisis also embodies a chance, and by virtue of this crisis, an opportunity has emerged for Central-Europe to outline a positive vision. The next few months will have to be about this, the State Secretary stated. He also said: Europe is in a demographic crisis as well, and this is why many see immigration as an authentic answer to its problems. He remarked: they respect Islam as a religion, and terrorism must not be confused with Islam. There is a place for the latter in Europe, but only if the fundamental truth is respected that our continent was not based on this religion.
Zsolt Németh (Fidesz), the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament said that the fence built on the southern border proved that it is a viable solution. The whole of the Balkans concordantly supported the idea of the fence, and was able to convince the whole of Europe that there is a need for “a European border guarding force”. This can be presented as a victorious project, and we can carry on towards the management of the migration crisis on this path. At the same time, Europe must develop intensive cooperation with its neighbours. The fence on its own is not tenable in the long run, but if there is cooperation additionally, stability can be achieved, he argued.
Regarding the relationship between religion and politics, he said: the idea of a Christian Europe is not a religious concept. This must be looked upon as a bridge which is equally built by the Christian churches and European politics. At the same time, without values there is no politics, and this is what politics must see as its premise. He remarked: while the separation of the state and church is a tenet of Christianity, this is not the case in Islam.
Gergely Gulyás (Fidesz), chair of the Legislation Committee of Parliament said: while the EU has its most intolerant elite at present, they would like them to exercise some degree of tolerance notwithstanding as regards conventional European values.
Christianity as a fundamental value must be equally manifested in issues of social policy and nation policy. Within the European Union we do not only have common values anymore, however; we can no longer be sure for instance whether we do have shared the values of the Scandinavian countries in the fields of family policy and social policy, he remarked. Mr Gulyás further pointed out: he does not believe that he should decide for a German person how Germany should relate to Islam. Islam, however, does not form part of Hungary, and it is possible to infer from the Fundamental Law that Islamisation comes under a constitutional ban in Hungary, he pointed out.
Slovak Education Secretary Peter Krajnák said that Europe is Christian, and must remain Christian. Europe must stand on Christian foundations, he referred to the founders of the EU, and added: Christianity must manifest itself in our daily lives as well as in politics, and helping the needy must be the fundamental duty of a Christian politician.
We all belong to a common Europe, he said, and wished that “we may understand one another, and speak the same language”.
Upon outlining his views, BBC broadcaster David Campanale raised the question of whether Christianity can serve as a common language. He took the view that the question is how we shall cooperate on the continent, and how the individuals relate to religion. The liberal State oppresses identities, he pointed out, highlighting: they wanted to create a home in Europe, but failed.