By Jessica Reed in Brussels
At lunchtime I immersed myself in the group of European citizens taking part in the Consultation initiative, and chatted with Stephane Rebaudo, a french student from Paris here for the week end as a participant.
oD Today: Hi Stephane, can you tell us how you ended up being an active participant of the European Citizens Consultations?
Stephane: I received a phone call a couple of months ago, and was asked about some of my opinions, whether or not I belonged to a political party, what were the latest books I had read, things like that (1). I guess I qualified for the Consultation since I am now here!
Can you describe today’s activities so far?
I am sitting in a conference room, at a table with three other French people, three Cypriots and a translator. We answer questions thanks to a digital box at our disposition, and discuss which topics and hot issues we would like European Institutions to take care of. So far my table has brought up the topics of European justice, energy, taxes and immigration, which we feel are crucial to the current European debate.
What impact do you think your participation will have on the European policy making system?
We are supposed to set a real agenda here, which will later be discussed on a national level – it is more practical and practical. Our suggestions will then be refined. Decision makers in Europe will be listening to what we had to say today.
Do you feel European?
Absolutely.
(1) Jessica´s note: the citizens participating in the ECC were “randomly chosen” so as to reflect the diversity of the population. They were contacted by an opinion research agency which was in charge of the selection, which included gender, age and socio-economic backgrounds.
