Brussels, 12/06/2006 (Agence Europe) - A few days away from the European Council, the European Citizen Action Service (ECAS) organised a conference-debate on the European Commission's Plan D, “The Citizen's Right to Know”. Plan D: Democracy, Dialogue and Debate, is a Commission contribution to the reflection period on the future of Europe, begun by the European Council in June 2005, following the failures of France and the Netherlands to ratify the Constitutional Treaty. Under the Chairmanship of the European Parliament's Vice President, Alejo Vidal-Quadras Roca (EPP-ED, Spain), the conference provided an opportunity for the Commission to present a balance sheet of all actions taken over the last year for encouraging citizens to participate in the life of the European institutions and to listen to the proposals made by civil society.
European Commissioner Margot Wallström was delighted to list the 660 activities in Member States as part of Plan D. European Commissioners have visited several Member States and more than a hundred meetings have been organised with national Parliaments. Commission Open-Days in Member States have lead to conferences and meetings with the press. The “Spring Day/EUROPE 2006” operation, headed by European youth, took place in more than 7,000 schools. Margot Wallström welcomed the success of consultations on the internet. She explained that in this context the success of “Debate Europe” was both quantitative (4,000 hits, with more than 8,000 contributions) and qualitative, given the number of young people who took part in it. However, Wallström acknowledged that cooperation and coordination with the European institutions and the local, regional and national authorities had to improve in the future, “working at a local level should be the watchword”, she said.
The Commission also regretted the lack of funds for the initiative and Mr Vidal-Quadras Roca exhorted the European Parliament to request greater funding for the European institutions' communication tools. According to Vidal-Quadras Roca, “human and financial resources are not enough for filling the information gap between the Union and citizens”. He also explained that there was a “genuine demand from the public for greater communication…In this connection, Plan D is not a rescue plan; it is the translation of the voice of the people, the putting of citizens' interests into practice”.
Further action is planned in the media domain. According to Luis Herrero-Tejedor (EPP-ED, Spain), the rapporteur for the European Parliament on the Commission's White Paper, there is a real “hunger for debate in the four corners of Europe”. The correspondent for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Michael Stabenow, President of the International Press Association (IPA), however, said that the Commission should avoid mixing up communication and information. Commissioner Wallström again reassured journalists about the question of a European Press Agency being set up. This proposal is no longer on the agenda and the Commission is now focusing efforts on the Europe by Satellite (EbS) television channel. All of the participants agreed on the idea that the media transmitted a negative and pre-conceived idea of the European Union as being a distant concern of citizens. According to the German MEP, Jo Leinen (PES), the President of the Constitutional Committee, “we are always talking about competitiveness and profits and never about solidarity”. Commissioner Wallström recognised that in their development, “the Commission and EU have lagged behind citizens”. European Union action on peace, democracy, human rights, the environment and health have to be highlighted to the public at large. The Commissioner affirmed that, “the Constitution was an elitist project. Citizens have to know that they have been listened to…There was no Plan B because the European institutions weren't aware of citizens' expectations. This is no longer the case”. Speaking about the Constitutional Treaty, the European institutions should be firm on the content and flexible on the form. A renegotiation of the contents is not desirable but they should better explain new developments and provide a more “seductive” image”. Mr Vidal-Quadras Roca called on the European Council to produce a road map to get out of the impasse. 2007 will be the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome and a great occasion for marking this event with a foundation stone.