The integration of Bulgaria in the European Union, as well as the role of the country in the European Convention, is an important element in the programmes of many Bulgarian youth organizations and parties at the moment. At present, it enjoys the support of Bulgarian society and full political consensus.

The analysis of the concrete situation in what has been done from YOs to popularise the work of the Convention and the European integration as a whole, leads to the following principal conclusions and observations

Pluses
· YOs have been working for a long time for popularizing the accession of the country to the EU. A few YOs have started working on concrete projects for popularizing the European Convention.

· With the contribution from YOs the support for membership in Bulgarian society has increased.

· There are qualified specialists in YOs who are engaged in activities popularizing the work of the European Convention.

· YOs have founded Information centres on matters related to the European integration, which are functioning and enjoy public prestige.

Minuses
· There is insufficiently effective communication on the topic of the Convention among the different institutions (YOs, EC Delegation and embassies of the Member States and candidates for membership).

· The support for membership is rather abstract and the citizens do not perceive many of the real problems connected with the actual membership.

· The messages of European integration are presented almost exclusively by political figures – the potential of YOs in the various fields is not sufficiently utilised.

· The available communications network – the newsletters and the Internet sites of the YOs – are not sufficiently effectively utilised. They offer too few opportunities for feedback from the citizens.

· Important topics for the European Union itself, of the type of the debate on the future of the EU, are not contemplated and discussed enough within YOs.

· The communications channels are too centralised – work in the regions and locally is not sufficient.

· The work of YOs with the foreign media to attract their attention to Bulgaria as a topic is insufficient.

These facts face us with the need of raising the issue about the communication on the Convention and European integration on another principle. There is a need that YOs present it before society as a daily domestic policy issue, i.e., the messages of the Convention need to be translated and addressed to the citizens in a comprehensible language and in the context of their real, daily dimension regarding the individual citizen.
YOs have to face the following challenges in their work (apart from their usual activities):
· To disseminate objective information about the Convention, the EU and about its Member States among Bulgarian Youth;

· To motivate the more active participation of young Bulgarians in the process of integration and in the debate on the future of Europe;

· To motivate all partners for a more active participation in the processes of programming, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the pre-accession instruments of the EU.

* The Youth Union of Democratic Forces

Along with the official authorities in Bulgaria, YUDF is interested that discussions in the Convention are not limited just to constitutional issues and to the potential for overcoming the democratic deficit in the EU. The debate should be extended to cover the political content of the European project and the new directions the main policies of the Union should take.

* Bulgarian Socialist Youth

The Convention should face the relations of the enlarged EU with its neighbours in the East and Southeast in the light of an integrated "neighbourhood policy" containing well-coordinated foreign policy activities and measures in the sphere of justice and home affairs. In view of the fact the Bulgaria prepares to play the role of the EU's external border, the participation of the country in the development of Justice and Home Affairs activities is of crucial importance even prior to EU accession. It is logical to include here support for the creation of Schengen type control along the external borders of the 12 candidate countries, and not between them. In order to improve transparency of the EU policies the co-decision procedure should be applied with regard to the issues of border control, asylum, visas, immigration, right to free movement of third country citizens, judicial cooperation on civil matters as well as administrative cooperation.

* Bulgarian Democratic Youth

The EU should reaffirm itself as a "developmental community" of member states sharing common values and similar systems of democratic governance; a community whose mission is to secure the development of all its members in solidarity. The political meaning of solidarity presumes the inclusion of current and prospective EU member states in the development of new policies as well as in the reform of existing ones and application of identical rules to all of them.

* Students' Diplomatic Club

The Convention on The EU Future which is currently meeting in Brussels is a major step towards creating a working mechanism which can bind together all nations on our continent, who share the common virtues of democracy, partnership and peace. We, the SDC(Students' Diplomatic Club from the Law Faculty of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ochridski", Bulgaria), strongly support both the summoning of the Convention in Brussels and the convention of young Europeans which is being discussed at present and which will surely take place very soon. We think that by gathering representatives of the governments and the parliaments of all the EU-member countries and the candidates for entering the union, as well as from the current EU institutions, the broadest possible assembly has been achieved. Alongside with the expected "young people's convention" this stands as an undoubted guarantee that all decisions to be taken in both assemblies will be done so democratically and will express the real hopes and yearnings of all the nations on the continent for a better and more just Europe.

The fact that almost the same rights in discussions and voting have been granted to the candidate representatives is another proof that democracy and partnership are and will be a major cornerstone in the EU decision-taking policy.

And we do think that decisions must be the final result of both Conventions on The EU Future. But we believe this should not be only a single document though it may bear the name of Constitution of The Human Rights in Europe as this is one of the ideas being discussed presently. According to us the Conventions should create a whole conception on the EU future which would be the basis for the development of the union not just for two or three years ahead but at least for a decade to come.

The SDC consists exclusively from students, all of them young people interested in international relations and especially in EU-building topics. We follow very closely all the discussions and initiatives in this area and their development as well. We also actively participate in many of them, such as conferences, meetings and seminars and very often organize ones, either by ourselves or by cooperating with other organizations who share the same basic principles. We do all this because we firmly believe that United Europe is the only way towards peace and prosperity on our continent and that the young people of Europe should play a significant role in defining and creating its future.

Vessela Apostolova
Secretary General JEF Bulgaria