Leo van Doesburg

Reasonable accommodation for Christians in the work place is needed in Europe. On the 29 th of January, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) accepted with a large majority (67 against 2) the Valeriu Ghiletchi’s resolution  on “Tackling intolerance and discrimination in Europe with a special focus on Christians.”   The resolution (and it's explanatory report) stresses the intolerance and discrimination on grounds of religion or belief towards minority religious groups in Europe and people belonging to a major religious group. The report states that “ Numerous acts of hostility, violence and vandalism have been recorded in recent years against Christians and their places of worship, but these acts are often overlooked by the national authorities .” 

Wednesday I wrote on my blog about the Tarabella report that will be discussed 20 January in the Women rights and Gender Equality Committee (FEMM) in the European Parliament. Yesterday the  Stop Tarabella relaunching Estrela! petition was launched. We invite citizens across Europe who wish to stand up for human dignity and respect for subsidiarity to  sign this petition .  The Tarabella report is a part of the "Estrela report puzzle" and aims at promoting a "right to abortion" through a European Parliament resolution. Once again EU Citizens need to raise their voices to safeguard the principle of subsidiarity and prevent the newly elected European Parliament from adopting a report that would include a “right to abortion”. (Source: FAFCE ) 

The European Parliament’s “Committee on Women’s Rights  and Gender Equality” (FEMM) is back at its favourite occupation: the drafting of legally non-binding “initiative reports” with ultra-radical content which, if adopted, will be touted as representing the will of 500 million EU citizens and as a yardstick for the political action of both the EU and its Member States. This claim is of course ludicrous – on the one hand because those reports are, as already mentioned, not legally binding, and on the other hand because many of the matters they deal with are clearly outside the EU’s competence. The upcoming FEMM meeting on 20 January will deal with a radical report on” the Progress on equality between women and men in the European Union in 2013”, named the “Tarabella Report”  after Marc Tarabella, the Belgian left-wing MEP who drafted it. Section 14 of the draft contains FEMM’s hundred-and-umpteenth attempt to give the appearance of legitimacy to the sad pr...

We were all shocked today by the terroristic attack in Paris. Two gunmen attacked the offices of the French magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris, by killing 12 people including the editor and cartoonists. It was a well-organized attack, the three suspects have not been caught yet at this moment.  This evening at the Luxembourg Square (in front of the European Parliament) as in other European cities, a solidarity gathering was organized in memory of the victims of the terrorist attack in Paris. The square was filled with hundreds of people from all different backgrounds, religions or beliefs, who stayed in silence to reflect and/or pray.   With friends from "For the Voiceless" who organized a solidarity events for the victim of terrorism in Iraq and Syria on December 2014, I distributed free candles. This was very much appreciated.  My most heartful thoughts go to the victims and their families. We must be realistic to the big threat of barbaric religious fu...