multilingual debate forum
Meanwhile, the EU has launched an online forum (in 20 different language versions) for debate about the EU’s future.
2 Commentsthe sound of europe
This last weekend, the Austrian Presidency of the EU held a conference on the future of Europe called The Sound of Europe. The BBC interviewed some of the participants. Some commented that the event was elitist. This is an ongoing problem for the EU, that many EU citizens seem to feel that the development of the EU and those who are involved in it don’t have much to do with their lives (at least, not in any positive way). This week the Commission will publish its Communications White Paper which has been in preparation for some time and is supposed to show how the gap between the EU and its citizens can be bridged.
the parliament and the constitution
This week MEPs are focusing on a draft report on the reflection period about the constitutional treaty. The draft report comments:
The No votes appear to have been rather more an expression of dissent at the present state of the Union than a specific objection to the constitutional reforms, but, paradoxically, the result of the Noes is to maintain the status quo and block reform
and argues for a “broad public debate on the future of European integration”. The report proposes meetings between the European Parliament and national parliaments (the Parliaments in Austria, Finland and Germany apparently don’t want to co-operate with this plan), but also seeks to engage other groups:
the European dialogue will only overcome the constitutional crisis if it engages not only each EU institution but also national and regional parliaments, local government, political parties, social partners, civil society, the academic community and the media.
austria and the constitutional treaty
The Austrian Presidency plans to revive the debate about the Constitutional Treaty which fell into limbo after the French and Dutch referenda last year. Meanwhile, Jacques Chirac and Angela Merkel have expressed different views about whether it makes sense to cherry-pick parts of the Constitution for approval leaving other, more controversial, parts for later. But it is very unlikely that there will be any resolution of this issue before the end of this semester (or even much clarity about what is going to happen) - there will be some discussion of the Constitution at a summit meeting in June 2006.
Update: The Dutch foreign minister says the Treaty is dead for the Netherlands.