B r i s t o l / P r a g u e – The General Secretary of the European Baptist Federation (EBF), Tony Peck of Britain (Bristol/Prague), has called on Christians in his country to step out in favour of close relationships in Europe. Following the most recent EU Summit in Brussels, where British Prime Minister David Cameron spoke out against unified controls for budgets of European Union member states, Peck spoke to the Baptist Times: “European Baptists argue for a healthy interdependent Europe and EU, where the strong help the weak to get on their feet and become strong again.” The newspaper, which is published in Didcot, reported on Peck’s comments on its front page. He suggested that Cameron’s position would be taken in many other European countries as a sign that Great Britain is moving more and more to the edge of the European Union and “perhaps losing influence”. To quote Peck directly: “While we can well understand that the UK must address its own severe financial challenges at this time, I would personally hope that political ideology and pressure from Euro-sceptics would not stop the UK continuing to play a central role in Europe and the EU.”

Peck also referred to his work among European Baptists. Through it, he has gained a feeling for mutual interdependence that ought to be defended by Christians in Europe, even though this may be hard to understand for the British as an island nation. EBF President Hans Guderian (Berlin) thanked Peck for his clear stand as a “pro-European Brit”. At the crisis summit in Brussels, the 17 Euro countries together with the non-Euro countries of the EU were in favour of an agreement that provides for tightened savings and control constraints for the budgets of these countries. With the exception of Great Britain, all 27 EU-Countries are willing to join in this agreement.

The EBF includes 58 national member unions in Europe and the Middle East, with about 800 000 members.