Values-based politics – the priority of today

International Conference "Values and Politics. Christian Roots of Europe", Vilnius 6-8 June 2013

This week in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania which will start its first ever Presidency of the EU on 1 July, more than a hundred participants, including Members of the European Parliament from Spain, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Lithuania, the Lithuanian Catholic Church hierarchy, the European Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community (COMECE) representatives, leaders and members of the Lithuanian Seimas, Lithuanian government ministers, scientists, representatives of non-governmental organisations, journalists, as well as parliamentarians from the EU's Eastern Partnership countries such as Ukraine, Moldova and Azerbaijan, representatives of the Catholic Church in Ukraine and Belarus, will participate in the International Conference ‘Values and Politics. Christian Roots of Europe’.

Initiator of this second international conference on values in politics, EPP Group Lithuanian MEP Laima Andrikiene, said: “Politics without values loses its human face and becomes unattractive and cynical. Values of democracy, justice, human dignity and human rights – these are all on our agenda. This international conference on values and politics, and the Christian roots of Europe Lithuania, which takes over the Presidency of the European Council for the first time in EU history in just a few weeks, is an excellent opportunity to highlight the importance of values in our lives in general and politics in particular, and we intend to make good use of this opportunity."

She also noted that during the six years that have passed since the last conference in Vilnius on the same theme, "the world has changed, Lithuanian society, and the whole of Europe has acquired new features, new trends have emerged which need to be discussed with politicians and representatives of the Church. They have to be not only discussed, but we have to jointly find solutions and offer them to the public."

The Vilnius Conference, organised by the Institute of Democratic Politics in cooperation with the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture, will discuss values in EU politics as well as the EU's Eastern Partnership policy framework and essence, stressing that the EU's Eastern Partnership is not based on short-term and narrow pragmatic interests, but on shared values. One part of the conference will be devoted to the Christian roots of Europe and the Saint James Way (Camino de Santiago) – the first European cultural route – to discuss its importance in post-modern Europe.

The conference will feature the Archbishop of Vilnius Gintaras Grušas, Chairman of the Lithuanian Parliament (the Seimas) Vydas Gedvilas, Vice-Chairmen of the Seimas Petras Auštrevičius and Gediminas Kirkilas, European Parliament Vice-President László Surján MEP (Hungary), Lithuanian Minister of Culture Sarunas Birutis, Lithuanian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Andrius Krivas, EPP Group Vice-Chairman Jaime Mayor Oreja MEP (Spain), Vilkaviškis Bishop Rimantas Norvila, COMECE Secretary-General Father Patrick Daly, the Spanish Secretary of State for European Affairs Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, Spanish MEPs Cristina Gutiérrez Cortines, Francisco Millán Mon, Pablo Zalba Bidegain, Lithuanian MPs Andrius Kubilius, Vilija Aleknaitė - Abramikienė, Mantas Adomėnas, Emanuelis Zingeris and Audronius Ažubalis , Rector of Kazimieras Simonavičius University Arunas Augustinaitis and many others.

During the Conference on 6 June, Marcelino Oreja y Aguirre, former Member of the European Parliament (1989-1993) and former European Commissioner (1994-1999), former Secretary-General of the Council of Europe (1984-1989) will be honoured with the Lithuanian Millennium Star.