Brussels, 15/06/2006 (Agence Europe) - After several months of negotiations, the Bureau and the Conference of Presidents of Political Groups of the European Parliament has just given the go-ahead to the project by Gérard Onesta, the French Green MEP and Vice-President of the EP, to create a “European agora”, an instrument for debate and putting forward proposals within European civil society, and a concrete example of “participative democracy”. The Agora will deal with matters of great European moment (the Conference of Presidents will decide on the topics for each year) and will bring representatives of civil society affected by the issues in question together in Brussels and Strasbourg for two days to debate in plenary session and work in smaller groups. The timetable will be decided in relation to the European Parliament's agenda so that EP debates can be informed by citizens' debates, says a press release. Organisations invited to take part will be accredited by the appropriate EP committees. (http://www.onesta.net )