By Oli Henman of the Power Inquiry at the ECC.
As the Constitution fell apart across Europe last year, even the European political structure realised there was a problem- who does this process belong to? The European Citizens´ Consultation seeks to find some answers. Having arrived last night, I spent the morning with the UK participants getting to know their concerns and working out what they saw as priorities. The expectations were relatively low but the feeling was upbeat- throughout the morning there were presentations and a great sense that this is something unusual, not everyday that EU Commissioners ask the citizens of all the states to come and deliberate on policy!
Initially the comparisons were very personal, each member brought their own personal gripe, whether the UK tax rebate and lack of return from European funding to Cypriots in favour of Turkey, but as with many participatory fora, the process is instructive and as the members had a chance to talk they got to feel that there were some issues that overlap between all the people of the European continent, whether health care, job security or immigration. So as the mood changed to one of questioning and laying out the priorities we wait to see if the participants will take
this sense of collective empowerment and deliberation to their individual countries.
Elsewhere: Oli Henman´s blog.
