You may have read our coverage of the European Citizens Consultations on our blog earlier this month; here is Claus Sørensen's view on the event as one of the DGs (director general) of Communication of the European Union.
By Claus Sørensen
When I woke up at 5:45 in Copenhagen very early Saturday morning it would be wrong to say I was extremely fit for fight. After having opened the EuroInfo Center Monday in Vienna, I returned to Brussels, then Friday on to Copenhagen to speak at a citizens gathering with former Danish Foreign Minister Uffe Ellemann Jensen. We had a great discussion with teachers and students to pin-point essential knowledge of the EU that school children and young adults should know about. Uffe having himself written EU history in his struggle to have, for example, the Baltic States join Europe, has not lost his touch and we had a lively meeting. After that, lunch with some key Danish opinion makers and in the evening happy birthday to my little brother.
Arriving in Brussels on the “Pyjamas” plane, I jumped into a car at Zaventem and rushed to Heysel, Hall 10, the Ambassadors room. What a buzz !! 200 European citizens had travelled to Brussels to spend time discussing Europe. They were sitting around 25 tables. Earphones on with translation. But often yelling their opinions in “Eurospeak” on where Europe should go! Great!
I had to speak to observers from universities, think tanks and citizen NGOs. Europeans, Americans and Asian colleagues had found their way to see what this was about. So what was going on? Well, we (the European Commission) at Margot Wallström’s intiative have launched 6 citizen dialogue projects to give life to Plan D on Democracy, Dialogue and Debate. It is about “Making your voice heard” as citizens.
The Commission cannot shoulder the debate on its own. We are dependent on Member States themselves, other EU institutions, the social partners, foundations, civil society representatives and of course the citizens themselves.
I recalled during my introduction the Danish Parliament’s initiative called a “Citizens Agenda”. For two days, 400 citizens (representing young, old, doctors, greengrocers …everybody) talked EU with themselves. They identified, for example, that the EU should focus on fighting terrorism, fighting cross border crime, protecting the environment and maximising research and development. As a value-added the event was broadcast on national television, and the Prime Minister and other key decision makers came along and got the messages!
A quick sandwich was all it took before Margot Wallström arrived straight from Amsterdam where she had met former Vice President of the US Al Gore. As often with Margot, she did not stick closely to her script - I suppose she, like me, got inspired by all these citizens, who despite language and cultural differences, identified what the EU should put high on the agenda: the environment, social issues and the EU’s role in the world – including immigration and integration.
As Margot Wallström said, I can only confirm that we are exited about the discussion and we look forward to the outcome - and we promise to bring the results forward to the Heads of State and Government when they meet in June.
