For the second time since the start of the European Convention, the Economic and Social Committee of the European Union invited numerous NGOs to debate the Future of Europe and to discuss with Mr. Dehaene, Vice-President of the European Convention and responsible for civil society, and with Commissioner Barnier, representative of the European Commission. More than 80 representatives of European NGOs attended the meeting.

* Organisation of the hearings of civil society

Vice-President Dehaene reminded the audience that the hearing session would take place on 24-25 June. These two days will be designed as “open days” for civil society, with space given to NGOs to organise stands and present their views to the members of the Convention and to the press. Following reports by the ECOSOC and the Commmittee of the Regions and the social partners, various NGOs representatives will address the Convention and present the views of their sector on the Future of Europe.

In order to prepare the hearings, 7 contact groups were set up, corresponding to different sectors of civil society: Social, Environment, Human rights, Development, Academia and think tanks, Regions and local authorities, Culture.

The goal of these groups is to make NGOs present and discuss their views on the key questions of the Convention (competences, subsidiarity, etc.) before the formal hearings on the one hand, and on the other hand, to identify, for each sectoral group, one or two speakers to convey the group’s collective views in front of the plenary session of the Convention. Each one of these groups will be chaired by one member of the Presidium and attended by other Convention members. They will meet in the weeks preceeding the hearings, from 10-18 June. (more details on the registration procedure and the organisation of these meetings are available online on www.european-convention.eu.int).
These meetings are crucial in so far as they give the opportunity to all NGOs to express their views, whereas only one or two speakers from each sector will be able to adress the Convention in plenary.

Many NGOs (and in particular the Federalist Voice network) criticised the sectoral organisation of these “contact groups”. The danger is indeed the one of sectorisation, of fragmentation of the debate, with each group focusing on policy issues, whereas all NGOs should consider horizontal issues, those issues the Convention deals with. A more cross-cutting and horizontal approach was therefore requested by the vast majority of NGOs. (see letter of the Citizen’s assembly below)

Federalist Voice, supported by many other NGOs, also urged Mr. Dehaene to set up an eighth contact group dedicated to the horizontal issues of “European democracy and citizenship”, key issues in the Convention’s agenda.

Facing these requests from civil society, Vice President Dehaene explained that the Contat Groups are dedicated to the preparation of the hearings, on questions related to the agenda of the Convention only. He made clear that no policy issues but horizontal issues should be discussed during these meetings. Thus, each group should discuss the same topics! Furthermore, following the request of Federalist Voice and others, Dehaene agreed to set up and to chair an eighth contact group to prepare the hearings.

NGOs wishing to participate in these meetings should register at the Convention secretariat, using the registration forms available on the Convention website.

Vice-President Dehaene also stressed that beyond the hearings, civil society is expected to give its feed-back to the concrete proposals the Convention will be making from the autumn onwards.

* The importance of the debate at national and local level

All the participants at the meeting, from representatives of NGOs to MEPs, stressed the importance of fostering the debate at national, regional and local level. The dialogue should take place not only in Brussels but also in the whole of Europe. The initiatives of Slovakia, Poland and Slovenia, among others, to set up national Conventions were praised as a unique opportunity to encourage the discussion at national level and to involve civil society and the media in the European debate. Mr. Frerichs, President of the ECOSOC, presented the initiatives taken by the ECOSOC in that regard. All its national members have been encouraged to organise meetings in their home countries, and have begun to do so, in cooperation with the national economic and social committees, where they exist. In particular, the social partners have engaged themselves in this process of decentralisation of the debate, Mr Frerichs said.

* The European project – contribution of the European Commission

The end of the meeting was dedicated to a debate with Comissionner Barnier, who presented the contribution of the Commission which was released on Wednesday 22 May. As a fierce defender of the community method, Mr. Barnier urged the participants to “keep the memory of the European project” while dealing with the new European territories, geographical, but also sectoral. The intergovernmental method, he said, is insufficient in order to move the European project forward and to find the equilibrium of the European general interest. The institutions have to be reformed and adapted in the sense of more democracy and decentralisation, but this should happen inside a strong community framework, according to Barnier. Answering a question from Bruno Boissiere refering to various newspaper headlines, Barnier denied that the Commission wants to be the Government of Europe. The government will remain shared, he answered, and the Commission wants to keep its monopoly of initiative. For Barnier, the fundamental question is not who should govern, but whether governing will take place in one or two institutional frameworks.
More details on the position of the Commission on that matter and on institutional tools will be presented in a further contribution of the Commission.

Marianne Bonnard
JEF European Secretariat
mailto:marianne.bonnard@jef-europe.net