The values of Christian social thinking are an indispensable source of inspiration for the problems of the 21e A century ago. This argues Jos van Gennip in a recently published article in "European View," The Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies periodically. In his view, it is necessary to strongly adjust economic and technological developments linked to globalisation towards humanisation and restoring the balance between man and nature. In particular, he stressed the need to:
- reduce the financialisation of the economy, with the huge size of private and public debt as a serious symptom;
- achieving a more balanced distribution of wealth;
- actively steering in the sphere of preservation and realization of meaningful work
- better defend and promote the democratic rule of law;
- to achieve more effective protection of the natural environment.
This requires not only strong action by the public sector at local, national and international level. The solutions should also be based on citizens' own commitment, including in their interlinkages of civil society. This calls for a forward-looking and values-oriented political programme, which is a powerful response to the neo-liberal, ethatistic and populist trends that are now prevailing in Europe.