Brussels, 23/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - Seven European public figures - Carlo Azeglio Campi, Jacques Delors, Mario Soares, Jerzy Buzek, Peter Sutherland, Jean-Luc Dehaene and Guy Verhofstadt - appealed on Thursday 19 March for citizens to rally in support of the forthcoming European elections. Drafted by former Italian minister Tommaso Padoa Schioppa with the aid of five think tanks - Istituto Affari Internazionali (Roma), Centro Studi sul Federalismo (Turin), Institut für Europäische Politik (Berlin), Notre Europe (Paris), Federal Trust (London) - their appeal calls on national and European political forces to: - rally public opinion in a true debate on the future of the EU; - select qualified candidates and undertake to build a stronger EU; - develop programmes with a European spirit; - refuse to downgrade elections to turn them into a sort of national competition; - use the powers of the European Parliament to the full; - present to the elections a candidate from their party or coalition to the post of president of the Commission to allow voters to take a direct stance on this choice; - and reform the EU to make it a more effective instrument for the development of common policies. (O.J./transl.jl)