From: European Office
Sent: 26 June 2006 08:25
To: European Office
Subject: UPDATE ON THE SCHENGEN ISSUE AND REQUEST FOR YOUR EXTRA SUPPORT

Greetings from London and thank you all for the great contributions you are making to foundation to receive True Parents in Europe! True Mother's arrival in Malta is now only a matter of days away and yet we all know so much remains to be done to prepare an acceptable offering.

My purpose in writing is to update you about what is happening in the area of trying to ensure True Mother's entry to the Schengen nations, which include so many key providential nations like Germany, France and Italy. I hope that understanding of this can inspire and motivate you to contribute to this effort in any way you can that you are not doing already.

Resolving the Schengen issue is top priority for True Parents and for our European Movement. But our experience so far shows that it will be by no means easy this time. Like last time, it is likely to happen only last minute on the foundation of our utmost sincerity and unceasing effort till the final moment.

As you know we are working hard to ensure the ban is lifted in Germany and at the same time seeking individual exceptions to it in many nations.

This next week will be crucial on many fronts. As far as exceptions are concerned, we are likely to get two crucial results.

First, in France there will be a hearing in front of the highest court in the land against the previous refusal of our appeal against the Interior Minister's refusal of an exception. The court's decision should also be available this week. Our French leadership and our lawyers have worked very hard to prepare a powerful case based on religious freedom and many special "cheon song" conditions have been offered by our French family. Please pray for our lawyer Maitre Briard to be able to present the case most effectively. As and when we have the judges names we will let you know and ask you to pray for them to make the right decision.

Second, in Holland we are awaiting a decision by the Minister for Immigration Mrs. Rita Verdonk on whether to grant an exception. The result of a court case last week was that the Minister could not claim that this decision could only be made at the border when True Mother sought entry to the nation. That was of course just a "clever" device to prevent us holding any event because if we did not know if True Mother could enter in advance we could not plan the event at all. However, our victory was that the judge would not wear that ruse at all.

The Minister must now make a decision by the latest on Thursday 29th June. Her decision could of course still be negative. Please pray strongly though that it is positive. If it is not, then we face a further court hearing to appeal that decision and this will be a most unwelcome further delay in planning the event.. It is crucial that we get an early exception because Holland is already listed as a firm venue for True Mother to speak. If we could not get an exception at all or could only get one very near the time of the event, then the event would have to be transferred elsewhere and we would be taking a backward step from last time, when of course an exception was granted.

We have already won an exception (without any court action) in Denmark so that event is assured to happen as scheduled. Congratulations and thanks to our Danish brothers and sisters for that!

We are also working very hard to get the ban lifted in Germany itself. A major effort has been underway for some time to bring pressure to bear on the German government from all sides. Without going into any details, we have already reached the highest levels of the relevant authorities in Europe who might be able to bring pressure to bear on Germany. Also, in Seoul some thirty former heads of state and government and other international dignitaries signed a powerful open letter to Chancellor Merkel calling for the ban to be lifted. This will be delivered early this week. Members of Parliament and Human Rights organizations from all around Europe and from within Germany itself will also urge the same thing.

Last week we heard that one parliamentary faction within the Bundestag had sent a very pointed set of 10 questions to the Interior Minister - such as "How come the ban which was based on Reverend and Mrs. Moon's movement supposedly being a danger to German society is being kept even after a parliamentary commission of enquiry later found that no such danger existed"? He is bound to answer these questions within 3 weeks and this will very much turn up the heat on the German government over this issue and make their "stonewalling" tactics until now impossible to sustain. Pressure will also come from other governments to relinquish the ban.

Please pray that we can break through in Germany, because if we can, it will remove at a stroke, the problems in all other nations. Let us remember that although many things are being done internationally, in the individual Schengen nations themselves and in Germany itself, to get the ban lifted, no amount of external pressure can possibly succeed if the necessary internal foundation of "cheon song" is not laid on the German and European levels. Therefore the financial contributions, the prayer and other conditions (many incidentally are now doing 3 or 7 day fasts) that we all lay, are absolutely critical to our ability to receive True Mother in the nations she most needs to be received in but in all of which we are still struggling to break through. These include Germany, France, Italy, Holland, Spain and Austria.

Thank you again for all you are doing to receive True Parents at this extraordinary time of opportunity and blessing.

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