Commission launches interactive policy-making site
On 22 October the European Commission launched a new web initiative, 'Your voice in Europe,' to give European citizens more say in the Commission's policy-making process. The site is part of the Commission's Interactive Policy-Making initiative, which aims to improve governance by using the Internet to collect stakeholder views for use in the European Union's policy-making process. It enables citizens to be actively involved in the policy-making process by giving their opinion on new and existing initiatives, voicing complaints and contributing to a discussion on the future of Europe. 'Your voice in Europe' offers a wide range of interactive tools including online consultation, feedback mechanisms, webfora, chat rooms and complaint procedures. By encouraging direct citizen participation in policy implementation, the Commission hopes to boost its efforts to reform European governance, as set out in the Governance White Paper (IP/01/1096). Internal Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein said: 'It's time we took full advantage of the Internet to hold transparent, efficient and user-friendly consultations.' He added that the results of the consultations would be made public and taken into account in future policy-making. The 'Your voice in Europe' site also gives access to the 'Futurum' online debate on the future of Europe. The ideas collected during the debate will contribute to proposals to update the EU Treaties at the Inter-Governmental Conference planned for 2004.In addition, the site offers advice on how to complain about the Commission's administrative behaviour or lodge a complaint with the Commission against a Member State about any measure or practice which they think breaks the Community law. The web portal also gives access to organisations and people which can help those who need support to make their voice heard. Citizens can directly contact MEPs or get help from over 1000 interest groups. Companies can use the Business Feedback forum to raise problems they experience in the Internal Market with the Commission.