BRUSSELS, Jan 31 (Reuters) - The European Union failed to agree on a statement against the persecution of religious minorities on Monday after Italy objected to the omission of any reference to the protection of Christians.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said a draft proposed at a meeting of EU foreign ministers expressing concern about increasing numbers of attacks on places of worship and pilgrims showed an "excess of secularism".
"The final text didn't include any mention of Christians, as if we were talking of something else, so I asked the text to be withdrawn, so in fact it has been withdrawn," he told reporters.
Italy and France (!) fought in vain for the reference to Christians, without which the document would not have made sense, considering the Iraqi and Egyptian events of the past couple of months. What has not been widely reported in the English-language media is the list of European nations that blocked the specific reference to Christians. According to Spanish website Libertad Digital, they were: Spain, Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus, and Luxembourg.
Coincidentally (or not), three of these governments have led their respective nations to the brink (actually, beyond the brink) of bankruptcy and have enacted "same-sex marriage" or "partnership" in their nations (moral bankruptcy as well, as it can be seen...)
