By Anthony Barnett
Are the 200 people here today representative of Europe? Yes and no.
They are 50 per cent women, 27 per cent are between 21 and 30 (9 per cent are under 21). But for "logistic and financial reasons" everyone is from their capital cities. It means that village and provincial opinion is under-represented and the gathering as a whole is far more pro European than European opinion as a whole.Only 5 per cent of those gathered here feel negatively about the EU and 57 per cent feel positive (with 38 per cent neutral) whereas opinion polls show that about 37 per cent of the actual European public feel hostile to the EU - and about the same amount feel good about.
But the atmosphere here is very open and serious, seeking to engage with what is wrong. So it may be that it is not their prior feelings that matter but the commitment to raise the issues that matter which will show what the 200 are made of...
