Brussels, 07/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - On 7 March, through a successful effort of communication, the president of the European Commission, the prime ministers of Sweden and Belgium, a vice-president of the European Parliament and Commissioner Barnier floated the debate on the "future of Europe" to the enthusiastic applause of the children of European officials. Meeting in Brussels on the premises of the European School, the representatives of the three institutions launched this initiative intended to prepare the next Intergovernmental Conference. It begins with a large number of public debates in Member States.
"It is important to establish a direct link with the population, and above all with the very young", said European Council President Göran Persson, who opened the debate. "We shall have many challenges to face" concerning, for example, common agricultural policy, immigration, the environment, he said. He then asked: "Are the institutions ready to face up to these tasks? Is the balance of the institutions good?" It is because these questions are raised that a new Treaty is needed in 2004, he explained, considering that it is necessary to begin with dialogue with the European citizens. The pupils at the European School then asked a large number of questions about Europe, all in English, and nearly all addressed to the President of the European Commission (see below).
The launch of the debate was accompanied by a declaration signed by Göran Persson, his Belgian counterpart Guy Verhofstadt (who will be presiding the European Council during the second half of this year), European Parliament President Nicole Fontaine and European Commission President Romano Prodi. By this declaration, the signatories undertake to "do everything possible to reach out widely and to listen citizens' expectations of the future of the European Union and to their ideas on how the Union can be better equipped to meet the tasks ahead". "We shall thus be able to engage in the next review of the treaties", they write, by turning to all the wealth of opinions expressed". The declaration stresses that, in Nice, the Fifteen undertook to "deepen and broaden the scope the debate on the Union's future", touching upon, "more so than in the past, all the components of society". "This debate should highlight the basic challenges facing the European Union in the coming decades and stimulate suggestions on how to respond rationally to these challenges in terms of policy provisions, institutions and the organisation of work".
So as to "establish a common place where all contributions to the debate can be collected," the EU institutions have launched an Internet site: http: //europa.eu.int/futurum. Finally, the declaration recalls that following an initial report presented to the European Council of Gothenburg, the European Council of Laeken will, in December, adopt "a declaration containing appropriate initiatives for the continuation of the process".
Questions from students: Euro, BSE and languages
Students asked various question, from the BSE crisis to the death penalty in Turkey, passing by the sovereignty of Member States and… the number of languages that will be used in their school in an enlarged Europe. For Goran Persson, as for Romano Prodi, the importance is to implement the different process already launched: Euro, enlargement, external policy and common security… For Guy Verhofstadt, it is necessary to seriously take into account the criticisms against Europe, and not to follow the Eurosceptics in their intergovernmental approach. Answering a question on the cost of the BSE and foot and mouth crises, the Swedish Prime Minister noted that, in the tour of capitals which he is undertaking to prepare the Stockholm European Council, everywhere they talk of agriculture, but there is unanimity to say that there is no more money in the European agricultural budget. If we opened this debate, we could stop the questioning of the Community budget, he added. Romano Prodi indicated that Goran Persson was right, and he felt, in talking of the significant share of agriculture in the EU budget, that in the future it will require changing rules, otherwise the European Union will only be a large cow. Questioned over the lack of popularity on the Europe of the Euro, Romano Prodi says he does not understand why the Euro is not popular, when it works so well, inflation has fallen… .
Following the debate, the Commission President recognised that the children from the European school are not a normal audience. Though when I go to speak with students, as I will soon do in Ireland and Poland, even there, it is difficult to say whether they are a representative sample, since they are there because they are interested in Europe, indicated Romano Prodi to EUROPE.