European Commission – Press release
Commission brings together religious leaders to discuss “Living together and disagreeing well”

Today the European Commission hosted the annual high-level meeting with religious leaders. First Vice-President Frans Timmermans hosted European Parliament Vice-President Antonio Tajani and fifteen religious leaders from Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Mormon communities. This year’s meeting discussed the topic “Living together and disagreeing well”.
Frans Timmermans said: “This dialogue has never been more important. Our societies face fundamental challenges, and churches and religions are among the actors that can play an important role in promoting social cohesion and bridging divides. The leaders here today are partners for the European Commission as they can share their experience in fighting against fundamentalism, discrimination and in building mutual trust and understanding.”
Antonio Tajani, Vice-President of the European Parliament responsible for the implementation of the dialogue, added: “We will only defeat radicalism and fundamentalism if we stay together. Dialogue between religions is crucial to defend the values of our societies. European institutions should foster this dialogue not only at the level of religious leaders and theological experts. Young people should be involved. We need to invest more not only in our economy but in the future of our youth. We need policies which foster key values such as peace, solidarity and respect of human dignity among future generations and societies”.
The conclusions of the high-level meeting today will feed into the first Annual Colloquium on Fundamental Rights in the EU to be held on 1 and 2 October 2015. The central theme of the Colloquium will be “Tolerance and respect: preventing and combating anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim hatred in Europe”.