Brussels, 03/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - Civil society should be consulted during the process of the revision of the treaty. This is the message sent out to the Portuguese presidency of the EU and the IGC by the 200 people who took part in the conference on the IGC 2007, which was held in Brussels on 27-28 September by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) (see EUROPE 9493).
At the opening of the work, the president of the EESC, Dimitris Dimitriadis, strongly criticised the fact that the IGC had not provided the opportunity for a “transparent and wider” debate, by consulting organised civil society “in order to bring greater impetus to the process of treaty reform”.
The president of the Committee of the Regions (CoR), Michel Delebarre, acknowledged that his feelings were “mixed” regarding the simplified draft treaty. Although Mr Delebarre is satisfied that the new treaty maintains the progress in the constitutional treaty obtained by the cities and regions, he stated that the text was no simpler than that of the constitutional treaty. The simplified treaty “does not mark the end of the history of European integration. It's the worst treaty, with the exception of all the others”, commented President Delebarre, in a nod to the famous phrase of Winston Churchill. However, the president called on his audience to “say yes to the treaty”, as he is convinced that “it opens up the prospect of allowing us to relaunch a more concrete, more social and more political Europe, as long as the government in place wishes to do so”. Michel Delebarre launched an appeal “to all of the institutions of the Union” to mobilise “in this decisive phase and support the Portuguese presidency in seeking an agreement at the forthcoming informal Lisbon summit of 18-19 October”. In the view of Michel Delebarre, the ratification process should be commenced as quickly as possible so that the new treaty may enter into force before the European elections in June 2009. “As regards the citizens, democratic credibility for the forthcoming European elections is at stake”, concluded President Delebarre.
Manuel Lobo Antunes, Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs declared: “it is our duty to consult civil society and it is our right to be consulted”. Enrique Baron Crespo, one of the three representatives from the European Parliament at the IGC highlighted the importance of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which “should not be watered down into a simple declaration but should stand alone as a Charter”.
During the presentation of the workshop conclusions, the president of the EESC employers group, Henri Malosse, warned that Europe is “today built without democratic legitimacy”. His counterpart from the various activities group, Staffan Nilsson asked: “Where is there room for young people to participate in democracy?” The president of the workers group, Mario Sepi, highlighted the need for greater transparency and sharply criticised the fact that the Charter of Fundamental Rights is not included in the treaty. Concluding the work, the EESC vice president, Jillian van Turnhout, called on civil society in all member states of the EU to explain to citizens what Europe's real role was. (gb)