Holy See–European Union relations

European–Vatican relations

European Union	Vatican City

Relations between the European Union (EU) and the Holy See (or Vatican City^[1]) are framed by the Holy See's geography (within an EU capital) while being unable to join.

Cooperation

According to the EU's Copenhagen criteria which define what states are eligible to join the EU, a candidate state must be a free market democracy. Given that the Holy See is a theocracy it does not meet the criteria. However as it is so small, and surrounded by an EU state, it is intrinsically linked to the EU. The Holy See has an open border with the EU and intends to join the Schengen Information System. It also uses the euro as its sole currency and has an agreement with the EU allowing them to mint their own coins.^[2] The EU gave Italy authority to negotiate a deal with the Holy See in 2000 which allowed the Holy See to mint a maximum of €670,000. After a review of the arrangements, a new agreement came into force in 2010 which allowed the Holy See to mint €1 million a year (plus up to an additional €300,000 on special occasions).^[3]

The Vatican is not part of the EU's customs union or its VAT area like some other small European states are. However the Vatican is exempt from duties and taxes and the small amount of goods exported from the Vatican are exempt from duty.^[2]

Representations

The first representative from the Holy See, an Apostolic Nuncio, was accredited to the EU in 1970. The role of the EU's representative to the Holy See is accorded to the EU representative to the UN in Rome:^[2] currently Ambassador Yves Gazzo. The first EU representative to the Holy See was Luis Ritto, accredited in 2006. This accreditation followed a visit by Commission President José Manuel Barroso who wished to create open full diplomatic relations between the two.^[3]

Points of tension

Some of the more recent events in the relationship have been;

• A disagreement over whether to include a reference to Europe's Christian heritage in the European Constitution^[4]
• The European Parliament refused to ratify Rocco Buttiglione as a European Commissioner because he backed the Catholic Church's view on homosexuality^[5]
• The European Union endorsed the Sandbaek Report, increasing funding for abortion^[6]
• The funding of stem cell research by the European Union^[7]
• The European Parliament passed a motion^[8] calling for the compulsory recognition of same-sex unions across the whole of the European Union^[9]

See also

• Holy See–Italy relations
• Religion in the European Union
• Microstates and the European Union

References

External links

• EU delegation in Rome

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