Common Declaration Released by Five European Grand Lodges

Yesterday the five Grand Lodges of Europe put out a statement a little after a year of the Declaration of Basel, praising the efforts of The Masonic Confederation of France, interesting enough they still refuse to recognize the Grande Lodge Nationale Francaise (GLNF) regardless of their disposed leader, due to in fighting and lack of real change within the organization.  I have attached the letter for your review and left the text below, for those that don't want to download anything from the internet. ;)

TO ALL GRAND LODGES IN AMITY 

Assessing the situation in France one year after their Declaration of Basel calling for a recomposition of the French Masonic landscape, the United Grand Lodges of Germany, The Grand Lodges of Austria and Luxembourg, The Swiss Grand Lodge Alpina and the Regular Grand Lodge of Belgium issue the following statement:

     They take note with sincere satisfaction of the birth of the French Masonic Confederation which subscribes explicitly to the principles and spirit of the Declaration made in Basel of 10. June 2012. They appreciate the importance of the work that has been done by the jurisdictions concerned, their mutual trust and understanding, as well as their will and determination to succeed.

     They are pleased with the enthusiasm this birth arouses among the many Brethren who aspire to practice traditional Freemasonry. They are happy that the chance to start building a French Masonry of the future has been seized. They note the Confederation’s commitment to continue without delay to set up its institutional structures, and while not wanting to interfere, as made clear in their Brussels communication of the 12th of September 2012, they will nonetheless gladly offer in this matter all the advice they might be asked for.

     They are convinced that with the dynamism shown up to now the Confederation will succeed in this respect. Finally they are also appreciative of the clear will as expressed by the Confederation to reach satisfactory solutions regarding all other prerequisites to its future recognition by the universal family of Regular Grand Lodges and will support it in this endeavor. The five Grand Lodges also remind the fact that their call of Basel was addressed to all those who wish to adhere to Regular Traditional Freemasonry and thus, despite their withdrawal of recognition, to the Grande Loge Nationale Française too. They nonetheless believe that first the latter will have to acknowledge the real and underlying causes of its major crisis, some of which are in their view stemming from a long lasting drift which cannot be explained by the excesses of one man only. They are indeed convinced that the harmony and peace which apparently have been restored within the Grande Loge Nationale Française are not sufficient to warrant its true and lasting renewal, but that positive actions going at the roots of its recent turmoil will have to follow.

Grand Lodge of Austria A.F. & A.M., M. W. Bro. Nikolaus Schwärzler,
GM Regular Grand Lodge of Belgium, M. W. Bro. Eli Peeters, GM
United Grand Lodges of Germany, M. W. Bro. Rüdiger Templin,
GM Grand Lodge of Luxembourg, M. W. Bro. Jacques HANSEN,
GM Grand Lodge Alpina of Switzerland, M. W. Bro. Jean-Michel Mascherpa, GM