A “working way” to celebrate Europe Day: the Synthesis event of the European Citizens Consultations

On 9 and 10 May the Synthesis event of the European Citizens Consultations took place in Brussels. While the EU authorities were attending official events to celebrate Europe Day 27 citizens representing all EU countries were working hard to synthesise one report out of 27 national reports on the “European Citizens’ Perspectives on the future of Europe”. In a day and a half all national consultations reports were integrated into one final report and presented by the participating citizens to Margot Wallström (Vice-President of the European Commission), Jean-Luc Dehaene (MEP and former Vice-Chairman of the Convention on the Future of Europe) and Gérard Onesta (Vice-President of the European Parliament) during a press conference in the European Parliament on 10 May 2007.

After the press conference citizens got the opportunity to discuss the outcome of the report with Margot Wallström, who promised to make sure, that the citizens' opinions on social and economic conditions for Europe’s families, EU’s role in the world and the management of immigration and the environmental and economic impact of Europe’s energy use will be heard on different EU policy-making levels. Ms. Wallström also ensured that the idea to offer citizens the opportunity to participate in European decision-making more regularly is openly discussed in European institutions at the moment, and that something similar to the European Citizens Consultations might be established on a more structural base in the future.

For more information on the Synthesis event, the report on European Citizens’ Perspectives on the Future of Europe and the Experts' commentaries, please consult: http://www.european-citizens-consultations.eu.

Tatjana Meijvogel-Volk, Dutch Centre for Political Participation