Georges Dassis, EESC President, receives His Excellency Monsignor Lebeaupin, Apostolic Nuncio to the European Union

At a meeting held at the Committee on 10 February 2016, Monsignor Lebeaupin emphasised that the Catholic Church wishes to maintain good relations with the European institutions, pointed to the principle of the centrality of the human being in socio-economic policies, to which he is firmly committed, and expressed, in particular, his concerns regarding humanitarian and development aid.

The EESC President, for his part, stressed that it is extremely important to bring together all those of goodwill, regardless of their philosophical beliefs, in full mutual respect, with a view to taking tangible action effectively focusing on human beings.

He pointed out that the union of the countries of Europe is a noble, intelligent peace project which was intended not for systems or abstract entities but to ensure the well-being of people - men and women - and must therefore be firmly defended and its social model developed.

Mr Dassis added that he and his colleagues believed indeed that there is an urgent need for the European Union and its institutions to draw closer to the people, particularly the poorest people, whoever and wherever they are. Specifically, the Committee had, for instance, just awarded its Civil Society Prize to associations fighting poverty, it promotes the establishment of a European system to secure the minimum necessary for a decent living for everyone and upholds solutions to humanitarian crises, rejecting both any attack on citizens’ rights and any form of navel-gazing, egoism or racism.