Discusseer over Europa! Internetforum over de toekomst van Europa behaalt 1 miljoen pageviews (en)

"Debate Europe", the website launched in 21 languages in March 2006 by the European Commission as part of Plan D for Democracy, Dialogue and Debate to facilitate debate at the European level, reached one million hits this week.

The website has proved to be a real success with an average of 200,000 hits a month and 12,700 comments posted.

Commenting on the success of the forum, Vice-President Margot Wallström, responsible for Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy, said:" People show interest and appetite to have a say on Europe. No questions or issues are invalid in the ongoing debate on the future of Europe. I would hope that more women take part in the debate on the forum. The success of the virtual discussion forum proves that we must work not just only on the right policies and the institutions, but also develop more opportunities for the Europeans to meet and discuss.

On this forum, European citizens can participate in discussions focused on 3 major topics: Europe's economic and social development feeling towards Europe and the Union's tasks and Europe's borders and its role in the world.

As for the participants, citizens from all over Europe and beyond have participated. 90% of them are male and aged 18-44.

The discussion is now mainly focused on the English (56%), the French (23%) and the German (7%) channels. The contributions can be made in the 20 official languages of the European Union as well as in Catalan.

Besides taking part in the debates, visitors of the website can also read contributions, also podcasted, by Members of the European Commission and the President of the Economic and Social Committee.

Contributions on the forum feed into the European Commission's analysis in the ongoing reflection on the future of Europe.