Citizens' consultation to give EU public a voice
The biggest ever debate involving people from across the EU will be launched this autumn. The European Citizens' Consultation aims to find out what European citizens want and expect from the EU. When French and Dutch voters rejected the European Constitution last year, many blamed the EU's apparent inability to communicate effectively with its citizens. In response the European Commission created an initiative called 'Plan D for Democracy, Dialogue and Debate'. 'Europe needs to engage citizens in a new kind of dialogue - one that is large-scale, accountable and involves the public in the EU's Member States, instead of Brussels talking to Brussels,' said Luc Tayart de Borms, Managing Director of the King Baudouin Foundation (KBF), which is leading the consultation exercise. Under the European Citizens' Consultation, members of the public from all 25 EU Member States will come together and, with the help of expert facilitators, identify areas of common ground and make recommendations to policy makers. Participants will be chosen randomly to reflect the diversity of the population. The exercise is being funded by the EU under Plan D. In the short term the project will provide input into the EU's decisions on the constitutional process. In the longer term, the project partners hope to establish a model for involving the European public in further large-scale dialogues in the future. 'If the European idea is to remain and take shape in people's minds, they must feel that they are genuinely part of the process, voice their opinions and see the results,' commented KBF Director Gerrit Rauws.