Chiese, associazioni, comunità religiose e organizzazioni non confessionali nell'Unione europea

[Autom. eng. transl.] What relevance can and should the religious factor assume among the founding values ​​of the new Europe? What is the role of religious confessions in the future arrangements of the Union? This volume offers an important contribution to reflection on these singularly topical issues by highlighting the pro-European vocation of the confessional organizations operating on the continent. In fact, it collects the results of the workshop held in Milan, at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, in May 1999, during which exponents of religious and ideological bodies accredited by the European Commission met together with experts in the sector. The experience gained by the Perspective Cell of the European Commission in the dialogue with Churches, communities and religious organizations; the impact of the Treaty of Amsterdam, and in particular of the Declaration n. 11 attached to the Final Act, on relations between the Union and religious denominations; the structure, functions and activities of the main Catholic bodies at European level COMECE and CCEE; the guaranteed level of religious freedom and the juridical status of religious confessions in the countries of Central-Eastern Europe are some of the issues analyzed by the proposed essays. The volume is completed not only by an extensive appendix of recent documents, but also by the answers to a questionnaire previously submitted to the various bodies concerned, through which each organization was able to illustrate its position regarding European integration; the forms deemed most appropriate for a better representation of religious bodies within the institutions of the Union; the actions that could be taken by the European Union for the promotion of common values ​​in the field of freedom of conscience and religion and, more generally, of individual and collective human rights.