Press Release: Commission invites religious leaders to Brussels for 30 May meeting to discuss ‘fundamental rights and mutual respect’

A meeting of leaders and representatives of the leading world religions was to be held in Brussels on 30 May 2006 at the initiative of European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Austrian Chancellor and President of the Council, Wolfgang Schüssel. Several Christian denominations, Islamic and Jewish communities had agreed to take part in the meeting organised by the Commission's Bureau of European Policy Advisers (BEPA). The meeting was also to be attended by Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. The meeting was to focus on the universal values shared by all the EU Member States: freedom, democracy and respect for human rights.