by Jessica Reed at the National ECC UK event
This saturday finds me in York, attending the UK national event of the European Citizens Consultations. Anthony Barnett and I covered the first event of this exercise in participative democracy last October in Brussels – you can read about it here.
What are the ECC? It is, in principle, a very easy way to make the people's voices heard. Around one hundred randomly selected UK citizens are gathered in a room for a week-end to brainstorm about Europe's hot topics, with a focus on economic and social policies. The subjects were picked and approved by European citizens at the Brussels event, and can be reduced to three categories, which are:
- Energy and the Environment: The environmental and economic impact of Europe's energy use
- Family and Social Welfare: The social and economic conditions for Europe's families
- EU's global role & immigration: The EU's role in the world and the management of immigration.
As I speak, the participants are discussing the use of biofuels, how to reduce carbon emissions and other concrete ways to prevent climate change. As you can guess, the topics can cause great debate and disagreements, but the Consultations' goal is (if I believe the leaflet I was given at the beginning of the session) to give 'power to the people'.
An ambitious process? You bet. But according to the MEPs present today (Diana Wallis, Lib Dem; Linda McAvan, Labour; John Bowis, Conservative - you can't really accuse the organisers' of any political bias or favouritism-), European politicians really want to listen to the what the people have to say. As Wallis put it this morning: “politicans don't always know best”.
If they really don't, then let's hope they will listen.
