Brussels, 04/07/2005 (Agence Europe) - With a period of reflection opening within the Member States to debate what should be done next in the process of ratification of the Constitution, the need for dialogue is no less present among the associations and media established in Brussels, and within the European institutions. With this in mind, ECAS (European Citizen Action Service), with the support of Journalists At Your Service, held a seminar on 29 June, on the theme "Will the Constitution become a priority again?", at the same time, as a questionnaire entitled "How to organise plan D?". Under the chairmanship of former Commissioner Mario Monti, President of ECAS, the panel tried to determine, after the failure of the referendums in France and the Netherlands, what the terms of this debate should be, how it should be organised to awaken the interest of the citizens and what are the Constitution's chances of survival.
Tony Venables, Director of ECAS, stressed the need for the debate to focus on how associations and organisations such as ECAS can relate better to the citizens who want to become involved. He would like the debate to be as broad as possible, in order to counteract the threat of "renationalisation", which is a consequence of the view that Europe is not working. Andrew Duff (ALDE, United Kingdom) expressed a wish to make sure that NGOs are involved, because "after they had become involved in the debate during the work of the Convention, they then returned to concentrate on their specific areas of interest". Journalist Emily Von Sydow stated the following paradox: "the more we talk about a need to reinforce democracy in Europe, the less interest this inspires ". She feels that the debate should not be extended; on the contrary, it should be concentrated on the subjects which are of concern to the citizens, such as the accession of Turkey, the directive on services, and climate change. We are entering a difficult period, said Mario Monti, because we have to answer the concerns of the citizen without falling into the trap of some kind of "self-flagellation" of the European institutions. The debate on the future game rules must be stepped up and the institutions must improve their communication. Amongst other things, he suggested that the UK Presidency clarify the Lisbon Strategy, both in terms of its content, and on the way in which the competencies are divided up. "The EU was blamed because it did not succeed in relaunching growth, even though its job is to safeguard stability and it does not have the instruments to relaunch growth directly".
The debate also allowed those taking part to draw lessons from past referendums, and to ask questions about the ratification process. Whilst recognising the "highly pedagogical" impact of a referendum, Mario Monti considered that the citizen should not be directly consulted when there is such a complex issue as an international treaty at play, "because they do not understand that there is no leeway to renegotiate". Whilst Andrew Duff spoke out against the "pathetic" campaigns in France and the Netherlands in favour of the Constitution, by politicians "who did not understand the text and who had very little credibility", Emily Von Sydow welcomed the "extraordinary" role played by the media in France. Given the disarray in the room, which was asking what message should be given to the citizens, members of the panel were also divided on the future of the Constitution. Andrew Duff averred that the "Constitution is dead, because the British will never agree to vote on a text which has been rejected, and the French will not agree to vote twice on the same text". He would like the experience of the Convention to be renewed, but felt that its working methods should be reconsidered. "A web site would serve as a substitute to direct relations with civil society", he said. Martin Selmayr, a Commission spokesperson, said on the other hand that this text, which has the signature of 25 Member States, should not be put aside so soon. "If one thing is for sure, it is that this failure will have marked this generation of political leaders of the European institutions, political parties and governments (...), and that if we fail once again, we will all be stuck with the Treaty of Nice which, as we all know, will not work when there are 25 of us", Andrew Duff concluded.