The Iona Institute has slammed Ireland's failure at EU level to
sponsor a statement specifically condemning violence against Christians.
A meeting last month of EU foreign ministers sought to draft a
wording to a resolution responding to recent outbreaks of violence
against Christians in Egypt, Iraq and elsewhere.
However, the European
Commissioner for External Affairs, Baroness Catherine Ashton, vetoed
such a wording, insisting on a draft that spoke out against religious
intolerance generally.
Ireland backed this draft.
Director of the Iona Institute, David Quinn, told ciNews that it was
“appalling that Ireland didn’t join Italy and France in insisting on a
statement that explicitly condemned attacks on Christians.”
Ireland was represented at the meeting by its Permanent
Representative to the European Union, Ambassador Rory Montgomery.
The
draft statement devised by the European Council for Foreign Affairs
referred only to “increasing number of acts of religious intolerance,
discrimination and violence” adding, “No part of the world is exempt
from the scourge of religious intolerance.”
The Council's failure to agree a wording came a week after the
European Parliament passed a resolution specifically condemning attacks
on Christians and calling on this week’s Council of Ministers meeting to
discuss the issue and respond to it.
The European Parliament resolution condemning attacks on Christians
specifically was co-sponsored by Dublin Fine Gael MEP Gay Mitchell.
Mr
Quinn added, “If the European Parliament could issue such a statement,
why not the Council of Ministers? Gay Mitchell is to be congratulated
for co-sponsoring the parliament’s resolution. I hope the next time the
Council meets Ireland will have changed its stance.”
The resolution called on the Council “to discuss the question of the
persecution of Christians and respect for religious freedom or belief,
which discussion should give rise to concrete results, especially as
regards the instruments that can be used to provide security and
protection for Christian communities under threat, wherever in the world
they may be.”
Talks between European Union foreign ministers ended angrily when
Italy’s foreign minister, Franco Frattini accused Lady Ashton of
"excessive" political correctness because the statement refused to name
any specific religious group as a victim of attacks.
Mr Frattini, backed by France, said that issuing statements defending
religious tolerance without referring to the specific minority,
Christians, that was under attack, was pointless.
"This position is an excess of secularism, which is damaging the
credibility of Europe," he said on Monday night.
"The final text didn't
include any mention of Christians, as if we were talking of something
else, so I asked the text to be withdrawn."
Diplomats have accused Lady Ashton of appeasing Muslim sensibilities
to avoid a "clash of civilisations" after Egypt reacted furiously to a
request from Pope Benedict XVI for better protection for the country's
Christian minority. The EU high representative said she would have to
"reflect" further about how to "make sure we recognise individual
communities of whatever religion who find themselves being harassed or
worse."
Mr Frattini demanded an EU response on the persecution of Christians
after a New Year suicide bombing at a Coptic church in northern Egypt in
which 23 people were killed and 97 people were injured.
The Egyptian bombing followed attacks in Baghdad and fears, expressed
by the Vatican, of persecution leading to a Christian exodus from the
Middle East.