Leo van Doesburg

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.

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 .”