Brussels, 20/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 30 November, the European Commission is to adopt a communication which sums up 13 actions carried out over the last year, as part of its "Plan D for Democracy, Dialogue, Debate", which lists several plans to improve the initiatives underway (see EUROPE 9048). Amongst other things, it would like women and young people to take a greater role in the debates which took place in the EU as part of the pause for reflection on the future of Europe, initiated by the European Council of June 2005 and which has been extended until June 2007 (see EUROPE 8971 and 9213). "The main challenge is for women and young people to be more actively involved", states the report, of which EUROPE has obtained a provisional copy.
Stepping up the actions. The Commission intends to step up certain actions to feed into the debate. It plans to increase the number of visits made by the Commissioners into the (regions of the) Member States, which numbered 305 in 2005, 45 of them specifically about "Plan D". A special effort will be made to open up the Commission's representations in the Member States to the public, also getting the information bureaux of the European Parliament involved. The Commission would like these structures to become "proper meeting places for the European citizens", in which cultural and political events can take place. With the support of its representations in the Member States, in the coming months it will hold "European round tables" on the priority European issues included in its working programme for 2007 (see EUROPE 9293). It will promote local "Europe Direct" centres- which form a European information network on European affairs- by holding training sessions, producing information material, supporting the creation of new centres and improving awareness of the centres among staff.
The Commission plans to help its representations to take part in the funding of civil society initiatives in the Member States, particularly those which involve women and young people. A "European round table for democracy" may also see the light of day, it suggests. Also mentioned is its recent support for six specific pan-European project (see EUROPE 9281).
The special Eurobarometer on the future of Europe, which was carried out in spring 2006, provided substantial information, the Commission notes. This initiative will be repeated in spring 2007. Marking its interest in the tool of the Internet, it is satisfied to note the success of the online discussion forum "Debate Europe" (see EUROPE 9161), which attracts on average 2000 visitors each day and which won the "European eDemocracy" prize in 2006. It went on to announce its intention of "relaunching the debate on the Internet", once again focusing its attention on the involvement of women and young people.
On transparency, the Commission will continue its specific European initiative and early next year will adopt a follow-up communication (see EUROPE 9184). It favourably welcomes the efforts of the Council in this area (see EUROPE 9307).
Information. The Commission will carry out an inventory of actions undertaken within the framework of "Plan D" and draw a few lessons from them. It notes that the citizens are prepared to debate the challenges which face them and the fields of activity in which Europe should, they feel, become increasingly involved. It also notes that the intensity of the debates "varied considerably between the Member States", without giving more specific examples on the best and the worst. It added that several conditions will be necessary for an event to succeed: - actions at local level, with the help of decentralised networks; - speaking concretely about Europe; - involving the audiovisual media, civil society organisations in the local public authorities to maximise the impact of each initiative.
"Plan D" is not a "salvage operation for the European constitutional treaty", the Commission points out, but instead a "toolbox", which aims to give the citizens a better understanding of European policies and to help them to take these policies on board. It stresses that "the Member States carry the lion's share of the responsibility for holding debates at national, regional and local level", as the European institutions play only a backup role in this area. Furthermore, its initiative to send each new legislative proposal and consultation documents to the national parliaments offers, it believes, the "possibility to anchor European affairs in the national democratic traditions and the national parties".
For 2006, "Plan D" has funding of 9 million EUR under the PRINCE programme of information to the European citizen, half of which is managed by the representations of the Member States. For 2007, 3 million EUR has been made available for the time being. "This is a logical consequence of the overall budgetary reduction", the Commission notes. (mb)