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Verbatim report of proceedings
Wednesday, 24 September 2003 - Strasbourg OJ edition

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  Turco (NI), in writing. – (IT) We voted against a proposal for a Constitution that is very complex and difficult to explain and understand; it is difficult to imagine how its mechanisms, dialectics and balance of powers will work in reality. A very complex institutional structure is, by definition, not secular but conceived for the priests of bureaucracy that control everyday life: life that cannot be controlled and cannot function.

Whilst not denying that there has been progress in the current situation, it is in internal and related affairs. There have, however, also been steps backwards such as the inclusion of Article 51(I), the declaration annexed to the Treaty, which confirms the status of religious bureaucracies too. In fact, it obliges the EU to maintain regular dialogue with churches, thus violating the principle of secularism, the principle of separation between public institutions and religious organisations. In this way the power of churches to interfere is sanctioned, and this is likely to constitute an obscurantist obstacle to the European citizens’ right to decide freely on questions of ethics and science. Furthermore, the EU is prevented from examining or reconsidering the situation of churches in the Member States, and so the preservation of privileges that are enjoyed by churches thanks to the agreements signed with Franco in Spain, Mussolini in Italy, Salazar in Portugal and Hitler in Germany is guaranteed.

(Text abbreviated in accordance with Article 137(1) of the Rules of Procedure)

 
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