The Union needs to become more democratic, more transparent and more efficient. It also has to resolve three basic challenges: how to bring citizens, and primarily the young, closer to the European design and the European institutions, how to organise politics and the European political area in an enlarged Union and how to develop the Union into a stabilising factor and a model in the new, multipolar world.

From the “Laeken Declaration on the Future of the European Union”

I thank you all for giving me the floor this evening. I hope that your consultation with civil society will not end here, but will be part of a continuous process, whereby civil society will have the opportunity to make contributions at later stages when the Convention moves on to producing draft texts.

My name is Alison Weston, and I am President of the Young European Federalists, but this evening I will speak on behalf of the Youth Contact Group on the Convention. This is a platform which brings together all the major European youth transnational political parties, plus a number of other European-wide youth organisations. These organisations represent millions of young people across the European continent, and all are members of the European Youth Forum.

Involving young people in the construction of Europe was one of the specific goals of the Laeken Declaration. Young people are not only important for Europe’s future, but they have an essential role to play in the debates of today. Youth organisations, active at the local, regional, and national levels, can play an important role in stimulating debate and promoting the concept of European citizenship. Youth organisations are often uniquely able to reach and represent those from the most marginalised and excluded groups.

Youth organisations have also been at the forefront of the Enlargement process, being among the first to integrate members from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as from other European countries such as the Western Balkans. They were among the first to recognise the appeal of the European ideal to young people in these countries.

It is often said that young people are not interested in politics. We do not believe that this is true. This year, on 9 May, Europe Day, young people celebrated the European ideal in hundreds of cities across the continent. This clearly shows that young people in Europe are interested in their common future.

But this common European future cannot be one based on secretive horse-trading if it is to attract the loyalty and affection of its young citizens. It cannot be a Europe which substitutes diplomatic talking shops for genuine democratic accountability. It must be a Europe which offers a vision of a united and democratic future, one which offers accessible government to its citizens, and one which has the instruments and the legitimacy to meet their expectations.

These goals can only be achieved if the Convention rises to the challenge facing it today, and drafts a Constitution with our common European rights and values at its heart. This Constitution should define the fundamental rights of EU citizens, the distribution of competences between the European and national levels, and the role and powers of the European institutions. We believe that only a federal Constitution can reconcile the need for effective government with protecting the fundamental principles of democracy, subsidiarity, and respect for diversity.

At the centre of this Constitution must be the Charter of Fundamental rights. Effective and democratic government also requires simplified and accountable decision-making. The exclusion of the Parliament from areas of policy-making, and the Council’s law-making behind closed doors, can have no place in a democratic European Union. Instead, a reformed Council, representing the states, should act in co-decision with the Parliament in all areas. Lastly, a strong Commission, able to defend the European interest and accountable to the European Parliament, must become the Executive of the Union.

These reforms would provide the Union with the basic tools of democracy, and would enable the Union to deal effectively with the challenges of today and the opportunities of tomorrow.

If they are to seize these opportunities, young people and youth organisations need support. Youth work has a huge importance in engaging young citizens and in building European awareness. The future Constitution should therefore include an article which gives a strong legal basis to Union measures in the field of youth work, contributing to bringing Europe closer to its young citizens.

The Europe that we are building today should not only be a Europe of the elite, of specialists in think tanks, and bureaucrats in distant institutions. Europe must have something to offer its young citizens – not only economic opportunities and a chance for greater prosperity, but hope and inspiration, a common vision of a Europe united according to the rule of law, which can deliver peace and stability, and can protect our shared values.

The beginning of European integration in the 1950s offered the young people of six countries this hope. It has given hope to generations of young people for a better future. It is the responsibility of the Convention on the Future of Europe to make sure that the European Union for which it is laying the foundations today can offer the same to all the European young people of tomorrow. Do not let us down.

This speech was given by Alison Weston, President of JEF Europe, on behalf of the Youth Contact Group, a platform of youth organisations established for the Convention. More information on the Youth Contact Group can be found at www.constitutional-convention.net.