Brussels, 06/12/2005 (Agence Europe) - As reported, the first European Citizen Convention was held in Genoa, Italy, on 3/4 December, organised by the Movimento Federalista Europeo chaired by Guido Montani, and the European Federalists Union chaired by Mercedes Bresso. It adopted a European Manifesto arguing that at the end of the Cold War, wars are still killing thousands of people, the proliferation of nuclear weapons is continuing, international terrorism is a daily fact of life and calls for international solidarity are unable to cut the gap between rich and poor. Against this backdrop, the EU can make a special contribution to the future of humanity, claims the Manifesto (signed by around 400 people), arguing that the EU is an incomplete project and that democracy, confined within the narrow borders of nation states, is in crisis. The people meeting in Genoa say the EU has to be turned into a community of democratic nations, a European federation in other words, requiring the adoption of a Constitution recognising peace as the founding value of the EU, encouraging social progress and ensuring every individual's fundamental rights. The Convention participants decided to meet up again in 2006 in Vienna and Paris. They feel that Member States' governments have the democratic duty to conclude the ratification process for the European Constitution. If the process has not been concluded by the end of next year, the Citizen Convention will call on the European Parliament to relaunch the constitutional process on new foundations by calking for a Constitutional Convention made up of MPs and MEPs to draw up a new Constitution, submitted to a European referendum at the same time as the 2009 European elections. They want it to come into force on a double majority vote (of people and governments).