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Showing posts from 2018

New Year's Message

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” Romans 2:12 Th e year 2018 was a year full of events. It was for me a challenging but also a blessed year. First of all, the ECPM has continued to grow. New parties and individual Members of Parliament have joined the ECPM, and even with stricter regulations, ECPM is able to continue to operate as one of the ten European parties. Besides this, I am thankful for the work of our members and partners in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Many resolutions and reports have been adopted this year which sought to promote human dignity. One of the highlights was the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human rights exactly on the same date this Declaration has been ratified by the United Nations. This document names the fundamental human rights, like

Merry Christmas and a Blessed 2019

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From Same-Sex marriage to Multiple Parenthood

Redefining family in Holland I received a lot of questions on whether same-sex marriages have an influence on the redefinitions of the institute of family in the Netherlands and if so, to what extent.  The Dutch Government believed that the Dutch society had changed considerably during the past decades. For this reason, they established a State Committee to re-evaluate parenthood. The report of the State Committee called "Child and Parents in the 21st century" was presented in 2016. The most important aim of this report was to equal the genetical bond between the parents and the child with the intention to parenthood. Therefore, they called for a redefinition of parenthood. Besides this, the reports calls for the establishment of juridical frameworks for different forms of families. Additionally, the report calls for the legalization of multiple parenthood (but with a limit to four parents with two different households) and for a regulation of surrogacy. The

The Date for the Referendum in Romania is Finally Set

Now it is up to the Romanian Voters to vote on the 6th or the 7th of October. More than two years ago, 3 million Romanians requested a referendum to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Finally, the hurdles for the organization of the referendum were removed. After the last vote in the Romanian senate with 107 votes in favour, 13 against and 7 abstentions and following the approval of the Romanian Constitutional Court, the Government set the date for the referendum: the 6th and the 7th of October. If there is a majority for YES with a minimum turnout of 6 million (30% of 18 million voters), then the constitution will be amended. Following Croatia and Slovenia, now also in Romania a Citizens’ Initiative has been established to request an amendment to the constitution so that marriage can be defined as a   union between one man and one woman. In both Slovenia and Croatia, the referendum took place and has resulted in amendments to the   constitution. These countr

Corruption Scandal on the Sale of Schengen Visas in Malta discussed in the European Parliament

Ivan Grech Mintoff (leader of the ECPM-Member Party Alleanza Bidla) presented in the Maltese court  a transcript of the testimonies of several Libyans who claimed that in 2015, they bought an unknown number of humanitarian medical visas from an official in the Office of the of the Maltese Prime Minister. These medical visas are not supposed to be sold. Following an agreement between Malta and Libya, they are issued for free. The documents submitted in the court also claim that Schengen visas were illicitly sold at the Maltese Consulate in Tripoli over a period of 14 months (in 2013 and 2014). In this period, 88000 Schengen Visas (300 visas per day including Saturdays and Sundays) have been sold. This illegal scheme could have earned the perpetrators millions of euros.  Although the Consulate in Tripoli has closed, it is unclear if this practice has stopped or is still continuing via other countries or Malta up to today. On the 27th of June, ECPM invited Mr Mintoff to the European P

Report on the Protection of Children and Families adopted in the Council of Europe!!

On the 28 th of June, the report of ECPM MP and Board Member Valeriu Ghilețchi on "Striking a balance between the best interest of the child and the need to keep families together” has been adopted. As I mentioned in an earlier post , this initiative was triggered by the Bodnariu case in Norway. The report has been adopted with an enormous majority of 43 against 2 with 14 abstentions. It was very encouraging to see that during the debate , many MPs expressed their concerns about the Norwegian Child Care system agreeing that the separation of children must be only a last resort and a temporary solution. It was also impressive to note that this was also recognized by an important Norwegian MP. Although a few amendments were adopted, it did not cause very much harm to the report. ECPM also published a detailed  article on the adoption of this report.

New Report in PACE Asks for better Protection of Children and Families

Next week, an important  new report is expected to be voted at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)  with the title "Striking a balance between the best interest of the child and the need to keep families together" . Rapporteur for this report is MP Valeriu Ghiletchi from Moldova , Board Member of ECPM. The confiscation of the children of Marius and Ruth Bodnariu in Norway, a move that caused outrage in Romania and provoked a reaction in many countries, showed the need of an initiative on this issue in the Council of Europe.  This report asks Member States to uphold the right of children to be protected from all types of violence. At the same time, it asks from Members to protect the right of families to stay together and to refrain from removing children from parents against their will except in cases in which this is absolutely necessary. It was una nimously approved in the meeting of the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Develo

“What is man” (Ps 8)

Human Dignity & Christian Social Teaching as basis for Christian Democracy In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the values of dignity and equality are considered to be the basis for Human Rights. "Human dignity" is also mentioned in many political speeches by both left as right-wing politicians. But what is actually the definition of Human Dignity? Generally "human dignity" is more and more defined as "being human". But is this correct to put the human being itself as a standard? Is this really the correct meaning for human dignity? Further we will investigate how the issue of dignity has evolved in  history and how the core value of human dignity played a crucial role in the development of Christian Democracy and how dignity is related to liberalism. Moreover, we will try to answer the question how Christian values influenced the definition of Human Dignity and how did this influence the development of economy and capitalism in Europe?

40 Members of the European Parliament Ask the President of Romania to Proceed to the Organization of the Referendum on Marriage

40 Members of the European Parliament sent a letter to Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, to the President of the Chamber of Deputies Liviu Dragnea, and to the President of the Senate Calin Popescu Tariceanu. They asked them to respect the sovereignty of their own people and to organize without delay the referendum on the definition of marriage that was requested by 3 million Romanian citizens. The referendum is currently being postponed by more and more procedural delays.