ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS PAUL VI
TO THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE COURTS OF JUSTICE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES*

Thursday, 5 June 1975

Mr. President. Ladies and Gentlemen,

You did not wish to end your stay in Rome without coming to visit us. We, too, are very happy at this meeting: it enables us to testify to the Court of Justice of the European Communities the high esteem we have for this institution, the guarantor of Treaties, and our good wishes for the progress of European collaboration, which you prize so highly.

Certainly, the implementation of Treaties among the nine member States continues to be laborious, so many different traditions to harmonize, so many interests to reconcile, so many economic difficulties to overcome and solve together! And yet who would doubt today that there is a common good to promote in this part of Europe, split up and divided to the past? The peace and social progress of two hundred and fifty million citizens, who are called to have more and more frequent exchanges, are at stake. And we venture to think that this Europe has also a testimony of agreement to bear before the eyes of the world, an important contribution to make to international peace and to the development of all.

But, it is clear, these Treaties would run a great risk without the vigilance of the Commission and without the justice exercised by your Court at the request of the Commission or of the national Judges, in the form of sanctions or of the interpretation of law. The operation of this Court of Justice deserves to be set out in relief. Even though the judges and solicitors-general necessarily come from national States and are proposed by them, we know that they are anxious to define a common title, with a common authority imposed on all. This vital independence is favoured by the fact that you receive investiture from the Community, through the Conference of Foreign Ministers; it also depends on your will and on your awareness that you must meet the standards of objectivity and impartiality expected of you.

We rejoice at this and congratulate you upon it. Without this independence in judgment, without this authority above the States, international institutions are reduced to helplessness, principles remain a dead letter, the common good is not assured. The Catholic Church appreciates this effort, she who is so anxious to see respected the right of everyone, each person and each people, in the implementation of a widened solidarity, which is more and more necessary, and in faithfulness to the solemn commitments contracted.

May Almighty God assist you in your noble function! May He bless you, with your families and all your dear ones.