It’s October 16 in the morning and we are in one of the meeting rooms at the European Parliament. “It’s very clear that something is happening when people of peace are talking”, comments Catarina Martins, Portuguese MEP, beginning her concluding presentation of the DialogUE Project, in which Together for Europe is participating. “This is precisely this kind of moment”, Ms Martins continues, “Dialogue is a powerful instrument of peace”

Present are 50 representatives of the Project’s partners: people involved in European institutions, religious leaders, and also from civil society. The purpose of the meeting is to present recommendations to the European Union, which are summarised in the brochure “DialogUE Kit” >>

During the two year project, four dialogue groups have collaborated in three main areas: communication, ecology and social policy.

The groups were the following:

• Christians of various Churches, through the Together for Europe network
• Catholics and Muslims, through the Focolare Movement’s Centre for Interreligious Dialogue
• Catholics and people with no formal faith, through the DIALOP platform for transversal dialogue
• Citizens from Western and Eastern Europe, through the Multipolar Dialogue group

The project aimed to transmit the importance of, and the methodologies needed for, fruitful dialogue. It brought together international expertise in these three key areas, helping the participants to understand the main documents of the UE on these topics, and to explore their various dimensions. About 10,000 people from 23 European countries took part.

Its full title: “DialogUE: Diverse Identities Allied, Open to generate a United Europe”. The final discussion showed how necessary it is to be close to the institutions, in order to share ideas and projects which promote more inclusive and sustainable policies.

In the afternoon of the same day, a discussion was held at the KU Leuven (University of Louvain) in Brussels, where the participants analysed some of the good practices that emerged from the project and spoke about how these practices could be spread through the “DialogUE Kit”. The event was streamed lived and is available on Youtube>>

To know more about the Project, to see the recommendations made, and explore further resources click here >>

by Maria Wienken

Source: New Humanity NGO Media Office; Photo: Szilvia Berényi and Team TfE