“The Europe of tomorrow is in your hands. Be worthy of this task. You work to restore to Europe her true dignity: that of being a place where the person, every person is received in his incomparable dignity.”
(Giovanni Paolo II, 18 dicembre 1987. Convegno di studi su «Il diritto alla vita e l’Europa »)7)
The petition
On 11 May 2012 The European Commission registered the request to collect statements of support and it registered on its
website the following petition that is quoted below in its entirety.
TITLE: One of us.
SUBJECT: Explicit juridical protection of the
dignity and the right to life of every human being from conception in the areas
of EU competence in which such protection is of particular importance.
DESCRIPTION OF OBJECTIVES: The human embryo deserves respect for his dignity and integrity. This is stated
in the CEG judgment in the case of
Brüstle against Greenpeace, which
defines the human embryo as the
beginning of human development. To
ensure consistency in its fields of
competence where the life of the human
embryo is involved, the EU should introduce a
ban and put an end to funding activities that assume the destruction of human embryos, in particular with regard to research, development aid and public health.
PROVISIONS OF TREATIES BELIEVED TO BE RELEVANT:
- Art. 2
TEU (Foundation and purpose of the Union: human dignity, equality, human
rights.)
- Art. 17 TEU (General tasks of the Commission: promoting the Union's general interest, proposing the initiatives appropriate to that end, monitoring the implementation of treaties and implementing the EU law, managing programs, starting the long-term planning process of the Union.)
- Art. 17 TEU (General tasks of the Commission: promoting the Union's general interest, proposing the initiatives appropriate to that end, monitoring the implementation of treaties and implementing the EU law, managing programs, starting the long-term planning process of the Union.)
- Art. 4
paragraphs 3 and 4, TFEU (EU tasks in the field of technological
development, development cooperation and humanitarian aid.)
- Art.
168 TFEU (cooperation in the field of Union research, technological
development and demonstration with third countries and international organizations.)
- Art.
180 and 182 TFEU (The adoption, with ordinary legislative procedure, of
multiannual research programs.)
- Art.
209 and 210 TFEU (Legislative adoption of the multiannual programs in the
field of development cooperation.)
- Art.
322 TFEU (The adoption, with ordinary legislative procedure, of financial
rules applicable to the general budget.)
Few explanations:
To understand well the wording of the petition
it must be remembered that the Commission has established a maximum limit of
characters that can be expressed in the title (100 characters) and goals (500
characters).
The wording of the articles presented for
approval is then optional.
The group of experts considered appropriate to mention, in the part that describes
the objectives of the initiative, a very important judgment delivered recently by The European Court of Justice (resolution of 18 October 2011 in the case Brüstle against Greenpeace)
in which a human embryo was defined as any
primitive cell being able to develop into an entire human body. Directive
n. 44 of 1998 on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions states
(Art. 6) that uses of human embryos for industrial or commercial purposes
conflict with public order and morality and therefore cannot be patented. The
German Constitutional Court has asked the European Court of Justice to
determine what is meant by the term human embryo. The precise response of the
Court of Justice is an indication that it is not possible to distinguish
between the various phases of human life after conception. Moreover, the judgment
recognizes human dignity from the first spark of life. Although this decision
refers to the field of patents, it is a very strong argument that the
Commission cannot refuse registration of the initiative for life and that the
EU institutions should decide to abstain from any activity violating the rights
of the unborn life.
Although it is not
mandatory (but optional) to indicate legislative
texts which are presented for approval
to the European institutions, it was
also decided to write proposals
for legal acts with a suitable
heading and also transmit these texts to the
European Commission together with other required parts of
the application for registration to
make a clear demand and better
overcome any objections
from those in opposition.
On 29 March 2012 in Brussels representatives of the pro-life movements from 20 nations have
signed the memorandum of the organizing committee and 41 people signed the registration application,
which was electronically filed on April 1, 2012.
The European Commission
said that it would record only the first 7 names
of the larger committee.
This reason states why the formal application includes
only the names of the
representatives of France, Italy,
Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Slovakia, Poland.
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