EU Review & Call to Prayer (EURCP)

EU Review & Call to Prayer (EURCP) – Election 2 - 04

(By Praise & Prayer Ministries International http://www.EUPrayer.com)

The Word

1 Timothy 2: 1,2 "Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence." [Your prayers implement God’s Word]

John 15: 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who ABIDES in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 7. If you ABIDE in Me, and My Words ABIDE in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you”

2Chronicles 7:14 “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

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10 June 2004, EUReview & Call to Prayer Ministries – Hugh E. and Norma Jenson Davis eurcp@aol.com

Web page http://www.euprayer.com/ Please feel free to add our Web page link to your web page

Other language EU News http://www.euractiv.com/ [fr][de]

[CLARIFICATION NOTE: We do not necessarily endorse any article or organization represented, but include them to let you know (Matt 5:14-16) what is being said and know how to pray specifically. Specific prayer is often the most effective. We will try to make clear which organization is responsible for each article. Who said or did what is important to your understanding of what is happening and how to pray. ]

INDEX & prayer guide

European election round up WEDNESDAY - 09.06.2004

MEPs by country

MEPs by political group

EU Political and Constitution news

I want to vote Tory next week, but they deserve a bad result, By Charles Moore, UK Telegraph

IGCAWAR NEWSLETTER: Weekly Constitutional Commentary by Peter Sain ley Berry:

God's Place in Charter Is Dividing Europeans, by Elaine Sciolino, NYTimes

PRAYER FOCUS: Elections in Europe, by Marc van der Woude, JOEL news

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European election round up WEDNESDAY - 09.06.2004 - 09:33

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THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT - has currently 626 members from the 15 EU countries plus 162 observers from the 10 countries entering the European Union on 1 May 2004 [Total 788]

Article >> http://euobserver.com/?aid=16546&rk=1

[LINK to expanded news]

PRAY for each country and that God will lead all Christians and voters to vote and be lead by His Spirit in their voting.

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MEPs [Member of European Parliament] by country

http://www.euobserver.com/?aid=13388 [USE link to activate by country]

05.11.2003 - 15:44 CET | By Lisbeth Kirk The European Elections will be held between 10-13 June 2004. In all, 732 members of the European Parliament are to be elected from the 25 EU Member states.

The Treaty of Accession 2003, signed on April 16 2003 decided the following distribution of seats in the European Parliament among the Member States from June 2004: (in brackets the current number of MEPs)

Austria 18 - (21)

Belgium 24 - (25)

Cyprus 6 - (6)

Czech Republic 24 - (24)

Denmark 14 - (16)

Estonia 6 - (6)

Finland 14 - (16)

France 78 - (87)

Germany 99 - (99)

Greece 24 - (25)

Hungary 24 - (24)

Ireland 13 - (15)

Italy 78 - (87)

Latvia 9 - (9)

Lithuania 13 - (13)

Luxembourg 6 - (6)

Malta 5 - (5)

Netherlands 27 - (31)

Poland 54 - (54)

Portugal 24 - (25)

Slovakia 14 - (14)

Slovenia 7 - (7)

Spain 54 - (64)

Sweden 19 - (22)

United Kingdom 78 - (87)

In total 732 - (626 MEPs + 162 Observers = 788)

PRAY for each voter that he know something about each candidate.

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MEPs by political group

http://www.euobserver.com/?aid=13384 [USE link to activate by political group]

05.11.2003 - 14:28 CET | By Lisbeth Kirk Members of the European Parliament are currently divided into seven political groups, plus some 'non-attached' Members.

PRAY that the right political group win the larger influence in the Parliament

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EU Political and Constitution news

http://www.euobserver.com/?sid=18

PRAY for the political forces and working groups that God controls and guides the outcome for His plan

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I want to vote Tory next week, but they deserve a bad result

By Charles Moore

(Filed: 05/06/2004)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2004/06/05/do0501.xml

Like, I suspect, a good many people reading this article, I am hoping to vote Conservative in the European elections next week. My reasons are fairly simple: I don't like the Labour Government, I agree with the Tory opposition to the European Constitution and the euro; I think Michael Howard is an able leader and, besides, I am by nature a Tory. But Mr Howard's party is not making it very easy for me.

At the European Parliament, the British Conservatives are in alliance with the European People's Party. I have just read the EPP programme, drawn up this year.

The EPP believes in "developing the EU into a political Union". It wants a "federal Europe" (albeit a "decentralised" one). It supports co-ordinated taxation across the EU, and opposes national immigration policies. It calls for the institution of a European public prosecutor, and for political oversight of European policing by the European Parliament. It says that schools should teach a "European civic spirit". All member states must join the euro, it says, and a Common Foreign and Security Policy must be fully integrated into EU structures, with the European Rapid Reaction Force as its "armed component". The EPP supports the ratification of the European Constitution for "the good functioning of the enlarged Europe".

I don't want any of these things. In fact, they are an almost comprehensive list of the things I don't want. No blame attaches to the EPP for these policies: they are the natural views of a party which has always supported ever deeper European integration. It just seems strange that the Tory party should be teaming up with this lot.

Ask more questions, and it gets stranger still. It turns out that the Tories had the opportunity to lead a new political grouping at the European Parliament which would have included parties from the new member states such as Poland, and would have been Atlanticist and Euro-sceptic. This party would have been the third largest in the parliament. But these negotiations were dropped, and instead the Tories made a new agreement with the EPP. The idea is that the Tories can sit and vote separately, but they get all the taxpayers' money which the European Parliament doles out for staff, research etc, through the EPP. The EPP skims a percentage off to campaign for europhile causes - things like a "yes" vote in the Swedish euro referendum - and gives the rest to the Tories. [SEE LINK FOR COMPLETE ARTICLE]

PRAY for each voter and the Christians to understand the impact of their vote and know the issues

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IGCAWAR NEWSLETTER: Weekly Constitutional Commentary by Peter Sain ley Berry: [IGC – Inter-governmental Council which recommends action on Constitution]

http://www.europaworld.org/IGCAWAR/evaluationNewsLetter.htm

After The Constitution What Next For Mr Ahern? [Current EU head of European Council from Ireland]

With the European Council now less than a couple of weeks away we may be justified in saying that agreement on the draft European Constitutional Treaty is all over bar the shouting. That there will continue to be, until then, a measure of shouting - or at least the diplomatic equivalent - there is little doubt, but the issues are falling into place and the extent of disagreement is narrowing all the time. The lake of dissension is gradually drying up and the process looks unlikely now to be halted. Everyone realises just what is at stake and the need to make significant compromises in the interests of collective progress. As the German Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder said 'We cannot allow ourselves a fiasco in June.'

The issues still to be resolved remain largely the same as we have discussed before in this column, something that has come as a relief to the Irish Presidency. The dangerous and unexpected eruption of a couple of weeks ago - when member states suddenly threatened to remove from the European Parliament its right to veto the European Union budget - has been settled. In effect the Parliament won that battle hands down, but the agreement has been sufficiently sweetened - extended periods of consultation, new budgets and so on - so as to make it palatable to member states who, nevertheless, have come away in this draft Constitution with the balance of institutional advantage. More [See link above]

Evaluation

What is your opinion of this IGCAWAR newsletter and of the ICGAWAR website en general? Please tell us what you think by ticking the few boxes in the questionnaire below or online at the following address

http://www.europaworld.org/IGCAWAR/evaluationNewsLetter.htm

PRAY for upcoming IGC which will act on the Constitution and that they allow God’s guidance and God will get his result.

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God's Place in Charter Is Dividing Europeans

By ELAINE SCIOLINO, NYT

May 26, 2004

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00812F83E5A0C758EDDAC0894DC404482

[BELOW IS THE FULL TEXT – The original full story link not noted in time. This Link above is a summary with full text for sale by NYTimes]

PARIS, May 25 - As the Europeans haggle over the final wording of their first constitution, they are bedeviled by a three-letter word: God.

Mind-numbing arguments over budget rules and weighted voting can be delegated to technocrats. The issue of whether the most ambitious document in European Union history should include a reference to the Continent's Christian heritage is different, an emotional, theological wrangle over the meaning of culture, history and faith.

"Of course, we have a Judeo-Christian past, but the constitution is inspired by a heritage that is cultural, religious and humanist all at once," Michel Barnier, France's new foreign minister, said after a news conference at the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday. He made clear that France would not bend to new pressure to inject religion into the draft, noting that the constitution should be "secular." The current wording, he added, is "well balanced."

But with the entry of 10 new members into Europe this month, many of them predominantly Catholic, positions have hardened.

The one issue European officials seem to agree on is that there will probably be no agreement on religion before a June 17 summit meeting in Brussels, where the constitution is scheduled to be completed.

Last Friday, the foreign ministers of seven of the 25 European Union member countries, including two old members (Italy and Portugal) and five new ones (Poland, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia and the Czech Republic), sent a brief letter to Ireland, the current holder of the European Union presidency, calling for a last-minute conversion.

"The issue remains a priority for our governments" and "for millions of European citizens," the letter said.

The letter urged "a reference to the Christian roots of Europe," adding in less than perfect English: "The amendment we ask for is aimed to recognize a historical truth. We do not want to disregard neither the secular nature of the European institutions nor the respect of any other religious or philosophical belief."

Granted, the seven may have meant no disrespect. But they know well that Pope John Paul II is firmly on their side. Earlier this month, the 83-year-old pope welcomed the accession of the 10 new member states to the European Union and underlined the Christian values on which the group's unity was based.

At a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, the group of seven issued the text of their letter to their colleagues.

"We are not talking about a reference to Christian values, but to Christian traditions - hence to a historical fact that no one can change," the Polish foreign minister, Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, said at a news conference in Brussels.

The week before, Italy's foreign minister, Franco Frattini, said that all that the seven were asking for was "a small inclusion in the text" that "would not alter the preamble too much." [See link above for full story]

Apparently in a gesture to Europe's Muslims and Jews, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw of Britain warned at the Brussels meeting on Monday against singling out religious tradition.

"If we were to go down the road of making specific reference to one religious tradition, we have to bear in mind other religious traditions and reference to them as well within Europe," he told reporters.

In his comments Tuesday, Mr. Barnier agreed, saying that the current wording reflected Europe's "pluralism."

Spain, meanwhile, which had argued vociferously for the God-and-Christianity position, abruptly shifted sides when the Socialists swept aside the center-right Popular Party in general elections in March.

The text, Spain's new foreign minister, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, told RFI radio on Monday, "is perfect." He added, "Spain is a Catholic country, but at the same time I believe that in this European constitution our government is rather secular, and in this sense we want to respect the text as it currently stands."

Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer of Germany pointed the finger at others. His own government, he told reporters on Monday, is willing to compromise, but several member states "are not prepared to go beyond" the current draft. As a result, he said, "I dare to prophesy that we will have an unchanged situation on this point."

Mr. Barnier, by contrast, declined to play prophet, saying, "When we speak of God, we should never say never."

Hélène Fouquet contributed reporting for this article.

PRAY for those working on the new European Union constitution and that God’s plan will be there before it is approved

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SPECIAL JOEL NEWS JUST RECEIVED AND FORWARDED TO EURCP SUBSCRIBERS

From: MarcvanderWoude@XC.Org

Subject: PRAYER FOCUS: Elections in Europe

Dear readers,

A special prayer focus this time for the European Elections. Our normal edition will appear later this week.

Marc van der Woude

JOEL NEWS

PRAYER FOCUS: Elections in Europe

From 10 to 13 June 2004 the 450 million inhabitants of the 25 member states of the European Union will elect a new European Parliament for the period 2004-2009. Julia Doxat-Purser of the European Evangelical Alliance wrote an appeal to Christians in Europe to pray for the elections, to take spiritual

responsibility and to let their vote count.

Let's pray that the Lord will have His way with the European Union.

Pray for a wake-up call and true spiritual unity in the Body of Christ in Europe.

Pray for opportunities, creativity and boldness to preach the Gospel, plant new churches, raise up new leaders, and have a transformational impact in politics and society.

Pray for justice and integrity in politics, and the election of capable politicians that will honor God. Pray for God's hand on the Christians who seek to lift Jesus up in the European Parliament.

Pray for protection for Christian and whistle blower Paul van Buitenen who is still taking a strong stand on corruption in the European Commission and who is under pressure from many sides.

LINK: http://makeashorterlink.com/?J37234488

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PPmi (Praise & Prayer Ministries International - Hugh & Norma Jenson Davis) is conducting this multi-denominational ministry under the mission program of the Assemblies of God Western Europe office outside of Brussels, Belgium. The mailing address there is: EMC/EURCP (Gerald Branum.) 45 Chaussee de Waterloo, 1640 Rhode Saint Genese, BELGIUM

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