17/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - At a conference in The Hague on 17 December organised by the Dutch government and the British Presidency on power sharing in Europe, Dutch European minister Atzo Nicolai, and UK European minister Douglas Alexander, called for the European Union to scrupulously respect subsidiarity and proportionality, writing in a joint article in Thursday's Financial Times that European citizens fear an anonymous European bureaucracy meddling in too many aspects of their lives to the detriment of cultural diversity, national sovereignty and civil liberties. Citizens want a strong Europe when it comes to defending common interests but a light Europe in terms of unnecessary legislation. Our aim should be to get Europe working better, said the ministers. They said the period of reflection following the French and Dutch no votes on the European Constitution should be used to focus Europe more on areas where it can provide genuine benefits to citizens, namely European competitiveness, environmental protection and improving judicial systems.