Speech of Wilfried Martens, President, European Peoples Party

EIN Summer University
Thursday, 18 September 2008, Fiuggi, Italy
The World in 2025:
The Place for Values in an Uncertain World
Wilfried Martens
President, European Peoples Party

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Wilfried Martens
President, European Peoples Party
“The World in 2025: The Place for Values in an Uncertain World”
As president of the European People’s Party, I have had the pleasure to participate at these
Summer Universities and I am always impressed by the fruitfulness of debates and the freshness
of discussions concerning the issues of tomorrow.
Political foundations have played an active role in the quest to achieve European integration.
Until now their involvement was strictly on a national level. For the last 25 years the idea of
European political foundations was something I believed to be lacking in the European political
scene.
As you can imagine, I was delighted when the project of European political foundations was
tabled in March of 2006 and we could create the Centre for European Studies of the EPP.
Under the direction of James Elles, EIN’s contribution to the development of innovative
policies was enormous. And now with the EIN's new Chairman, Jaime Mayor Oreja, we have
committed ourselves to work closely with it and to maintain our strong relationship and close
co-operation. The title of this year’s Summer University ‘The World in 2025: The Place for
Western values in an Uncertain World’ suggests that we are today living in a world of profound
uncertainty and that the beliefs and values of the Western society could be essential and decisive
for the future.
The EPP has been enrooted on the principles of Christian democracy: personalism, social
market economy, a federal and decentralized Europe, subsidiarity and democracy since its
foundation in 1976, in the political tradition of our Founding Fathers.
We made these ideals explicit and concrete in our party activities and in the European integration
process. What fundamentally unites us, in spite of our specific origins and different political
cultures and our Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Jewish, Anglican and Muslim traditions, we
mutually established these principles in our basic programme at our historic congress in Athens
in November 1992.
Christian democracy should not be taken for granted. It is constructed on a carefully crafted set
of values that are rooted in the essence of every human being. It affirms the dignity of the
human being and regards man as the subject and not the object of history. On the basis of
Judaeo-Christian values, each person is unique, irreplaceable, totally irreducible, free by nature
and open to transcendence.
Because they are free, responsible and interdependent, people must take part in the construction
of society. For many, what lies behind this commitment is the belief that we are called on to
contribute to God's work of creation and freedom.
Thus our thought and political action are based on fundamental, interdependent, and equally
important universal values: freedom and responsibility, fundamental equality, justice and
solidarity.
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Genuine freedom means autonomy and responsibility, not irresponsible independence.
All human beings are equal because they are endowed with the same dignity. Notwithstanding
their differences in terms of talents and abilities, each person must be capable of achieving
personal development regardless of origin, sex, age, race, nationality, religion, conviction, social
status or state of health.
Justice means that the conditions for individuals to exercise their freedom must be guaranteed at
all times.
But justice cannot be arbitrary or be perceived as the tyranny of the majority. It respects the
minority and no majority can deny the free exercise of its rights.
Justice, fundamental equality for all and the dignity of every individual are inseparable. Solidarity
means an awareness of the interdependence and interrelatedness of individuals and their
communities. It means above all protecting the weakest in our society and around the world.
Our concept of the person rejects selfish individualism and collectivism as a reducing factor. We
reject extremes and exclusion - we advocate dialogue, tolerance and sharing.
Christian democracy opposes the unjust exploitation of the earth, without respect for the selfregenerating
potential of nature.
Respect for the created world means that responsible management of the biosphere mankind's
common heritage is necessary and essential for the harmonious development of every living and
future human being.
Subsidiarity means that power must be exercised at the level of solidarity, effectiveness and
participation of citizens; in other words where it is most effective and closest to the individual.
Subsidiarity is based on the premise that society can be constructed freely. Public authorities
must respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, recognize the autonomy of civil society
and not take the place of social and private initiative.
Christian democrats consider democracy as vital for the development of individuals. The
participation of each person in public life and in decision-making is essential for democracy. This
commitment implies strengthening of the constitutional state.
Applying subsidiarity, international partnership, participation by all especially through free
elections enables each person to achieve respect for others and progress towards the resolution
of conflicts.
The limits imposed by subsidiarity contribute to the separation of powers and prevent their
concentration. Every authority is, in effect, at the service of the individual. No state can therefore
use the pretext of respect for its sovereignty in order to violate the rights and freedoms of
persons or communities.
The raison d'être of the sovereignty of states is to enable them to work freely and as best they
can in order to ensure the well-being and development of their people and to defend
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international law. This also means, that states must share their sovereignty in supranational and
international organizations.
Since we welcomed our like-minded political parties, we accepted and created religious pluralism
and understanding within the Party. This plurality of religious backgrounds does not pose a
threat to the fundamental and all-encompassing values of Christian democracy.
On the contrary, it is precisely our concept of man that unites us. EPP’s Athens basic document
made religious dialogues between the EPP and various Christian denominations a great success.
The contribution of these dialogues to promoting inter-religious and cultural understanding is
enormous. The relevance of those dialogues is amplified by the fact that immigration has
changed the demographics of Europe.
It is now ten years since the first Dialogue between the EPP and the Orthodox Churches and it
has been an instrument of progress, having served as a tool for reconciliation of peoples in
south-eastern Europe after the fall of communism and by reconciling them with the European
Union.
Europe is no longer what it was 50 years ago. National states have started operating
harmoniously within multinational, federated political and economic systems. Multiculturalism
and inter-religious tolerance are increasingly present.
In keeping with these changes, the Christian democrat movement has evolved to acclimatise
itself to the social and demographic shifts within Europe. It is currently in a perfect position to
play an essential role in almost all phases of the European integration process.
The recent institutional crisis after the no-vote in France, the Netherlands and the Irish no-vote
on the Lisbon Treaty was a clear reminder of the importance of building trust, and restoring
confidence in our common beliefs and vision.
Instrumental in this regard are the convictions that inspire our values and our political action.
Although Christian faith is no longer the only source of inspiration, its presence is ever more
essential in giving us the necessary tools to cope with challenges in Europe.
We reaffirm the link between, on the one hand, Christian values based on the Gospel and
Christian cultural heritage and, on the other hand, the democratic ideals of freedom,
fundamental equality between men, social justice and solidarity.
If the EPP would reject, forget, neglect or dilute its values, it would merely be an instrument of
power, without soul or future, while also forfeiting its universal and original message, which is
based on a global apprehension of the irreducible complexity of the human being and of life in
society.
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