Toespraak Eurocommissaris Wallström over dialoog met de burger (en)

SPEECH/07/804

Margot Wallström

Vice President of the European Commission responsible for Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy

"Today is a new beginning"

Plan D 2006-07 citizens' projects concluding conference

Brussels, 8 December 2007

Thank you, Pat Cox, for those words of welcome. I echo that welcome to you all.

Some of you I know by name already: welcome to Sofia Tycigada, from Greece; Norbert Hansen from Luxembourg; Gerlinder Hacker from Austria; Ingrid Hagekull, from my home country, Sweden; and Barbora Jaksova from the Czech Republic.

But many of you I have never met. Thank you all for making the effort to travel here - some of you from a great distance. I hope I will get to know more of you during this conference.

We are all here to do a very important job: to reach a set of concrete and practical conclusions on issues that matter to us all. European social issues; EU enlargement; Europe's role in the world.

That is quite a challenge. I've heard it said that if you took all Europe's politicians and economic experts, and if you laid them end to end in a straight line starting in the centre of Brussels they still wouldn't reach a conclusion!

Today we're taking not politicians, not economists, but 200 people from all walks of life and from all over the EU. You represent Europe's wonderfully rich diversity - of languages, cultures and political outlooks.

That's very important, because there is no single "correct" way of looking at political issues. I was in New York recently, at a conference of women leaders from around the world. We saw clearly that different cultures give us different outlooks - for example on social issues such as the rights of women, children, workers, the unemployed.

It was also very clear that women, wherever we are in the world, tend to see issues differently from men. Issues like security, for example. For women, security is as much about investing in social protection as in military defence.

Talking with people from other continents also shows me that Europe has its own perspective on global issues - from climate change and sustainable development to the need to promote democracy. There is, I hope, a "European way" of dealing with these things - clearly distinct from the Chinese way or the American way.

Europe is more likely to use, I hope, a 'soft power' approach - using persuasion rather than coercion; the carrot rather than the stick.

And we put a lot of emphasis on improving life not only here in Europe but also in the countries beyond our borders. We aim to tackle the poverty and hardship, the injustice and oppression, that drive many people to seek a better life in Europe. At least this is what we set as our objectives. Not everything is perfect, but these are our goals.

But I am very much looking forward to hearing what you have to say on these issues. This is very much your conference. It is the culmination of a unique experiment in trans-national debate.

Thousands of people from across Europe have met, face to face and online, to discuss the issues that matter to us as Europeans - regardless of nationality.

For the success of this experiment we have to thank six organizations:

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  The King Baudouin Foundation, for coordinating the "European Citizens Consultationsâ€;
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  Notre Europe, who coordinated the "Tomorrow's Europe" project;
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  The European Movement International, who organized the "Speak up Europe†project;
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  CENASCA, who were responsible for "Radio Web Europe";
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  Deutsche Gesellschaft, who coordinated "Our message to Europeâ€;
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  and the European House (Hungary) who organized "Our Europe, Our Debate, Our Contributionsâ€.

In a few minutes we'll be hearing about each of those six projects from one of the people who took part in it. Those people are here on the stage with me: Helen Duffett, Christos Kollias, Paola Franceschetti, Anna Fisher, Christiana Weidel and Ulrike Handy.

Before we have our conversation, let me address three questions that people often ask me about projects of this kind:

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  do they really contribute to democracy?
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  do they really have an impact?
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  and will the Commission and the other EU Institutions continue to sponsor projects like these in the years ahead?

The short answer is yes, yes and yes! But let me explain why.

First, democracy.

To me, public debate is vital. I would even call it the "life-blood" of democracy. Without informed debate, how can voters grasp political issues and political differences? How can people vote intelligently without understanding what different political parties are offering?

Democracy also requires dialogue between the people and the policy-makers. Governments and European institutions need to know what issues concern people and what policy changes people want. So we listen to civil society; we carrying out opinion polls; we run interactive Internet sites and we organize events like this one.

In other words, representative democracy needs to be supported by deliberative and participatory democracy. But in the end, of course, it is the elected politicians - national and European - who take the decisions. And it's up to you to influence the outcome by voting.

The next elections for the European Parliament will be in June 2009. Make sure you and all others turn out and cast your vote!

The second question people ask me is "Do events like today's conference have any real impact?"

Let me say, your views matter to the European Commission. We are listening and we shall act on what we hear.

First, we shall pass on your views to the presidents and prime ministers of the 27 EU Member States, meeting next weekend in Lisbon to sign the new Reform Treaty.

The debate about this Treaty showed quite clearly that different people want different things of Europe. There is no EU-wide public consensus on our shared goals, or on the policies we need to achieve those goals.

But everyone wants the EU to be simpler, more open and accountable, to decide things more quickly and to act more effectively on the world stage. This is what the new Lisbon Treaty sets out to achieve. It reforms the EU institutions, gives a greater say to citizens and to national parliaments.

Ratification will start immediately and should finish by January 2009. Once the Treaty is in force it will provide the right framework for delivering the policies EU citizens want.

But what policies are those? What kind of EU do we want for the future? EU citizens need to discuss these questions together. And the politicians need to hear what the citizens are saying.

I strongly believe that public support for the EU will not be increased by conducting negotiations behind closed doors. Public support will come only through a lively and open debate, and by getting the citizens actively involved in designing the European project.

That brings me to my third and final question:

Will projects like yours continue in the years ahead?

Yes, the European Commission wants trans-national consultation of citizens to become a permanent feature of EU democracy, and we need to find ways of spreading the consultation exercise wider.

How, exactly? One possibility would be to link deliberative polling and citizens' consultation exercises with Eurobarometer surveys in the run-up to major European summits. Another possibility would be to organize "citizens' summit" meetings just before, our in parallel with, summit meetings of EU leaders.

These are just a few examples of what we could do. You may have other ideas, and I hope you will discuss them here this weekend and give your input, because we need it and want it.

Whatever plans the Commission adopts next year will be integrated into our Communication policy. Essentially, this is about creating a European public sphere in which people across Europe can be involved in a well-informed debate. The debate must be both local and trans-national. In other words, discussing how EU policies affect life in the local community, but also understanding how European issues are perceived by people in other EU countries.

We need forums for that debate:

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  physical meeting-places for face-to-face discussion
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  and virtual networks of internet sites for online debate.

The European Commission on its own cannot create all these forums and organize all these discussions. We intend to work with the other EU institutions - for example, using the Commission Representations and European Parliament offices in each EU country to create European public spaces where people can get information, join in debates and enjoy cultural activities.

We also intend to work on communication projects with national governments, and we plan to help NGOs and broadcasters form networks through which information and discussion about Europe can cross national boundaries.

In October the Commission published a paper setting out these and other concrete proposals. It's called "Communicating Europe in partnership": it's online and I hope you'll find the opportunity to read it.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The future of Europe has to be decided democratically. That requires an informed public debate. It also requires dialogue between the people, the policy-makers and the politicians. It should start with a proper discussion about the results which could be achieved by the Treaty of Lisbon. It is a solid arrangement, now it's time to go beyond the nuts and bolts of EU decision-making, and focus on delivery.

But we must also continue to reflect on the fundamental questions.

Why are we together at all?

What do we want to do together?

What sort of Europe do we want to build for the future?

I want Europe's political parties to put forward genuine alternatives for Europe's future. Alternatives we can all vote on when it comes to the European Parliament elections in June 2009.

I hope that all of you, when you go back home, will get the discussion going - in your places of work, in your local communities, in the media. It's time for the citizens to set the agenda.

Today is not the end: it's a new beginning.

Thank you!