The European
Commissioner for Foreign Affairs, Baroness Catherine Ashton, is embroiled in a
row over a draft statement that refused to condemn attacks on Christians in Egypt
and other countries.
The row erupted
between Lady Ashton and a number of foreign
ministers at a meeting of the EU Council of
Ministers on Monday. Ireland supported Baroness
Ashton.
Talks 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.
The
European Parliament had passed a resolution the week before specifically
condemning attacks on Christians and calling on this week’s Council of Ministers
meeting to discuss the issue and respond to it.
However,
the draft statement devised by a working group of the European Council for
Foreign Affairs failed to do this and instead
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.”.
Ireland
was represented at the meeting by its
Permanent Representative to the European Union, Ambassador Rory
Montgomery.
The European
Parliament resolution condemning attacks on Christians specifically was co-sponsored by Dublin Fine Gael MEP Gay
Mitchell.
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”.
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withdrawn.”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.
In a letter in yesterday’s Daily Telegraph, both Mr Frattini and
Lady Ashton said that, after a long discussion “we agreed to look again at how
to strengthen our condemnation of violence, intolerance and intimidation against
people wishing to exercise their rights to religious freedom”.
