The European Commission has decided beginning in 2006 to “open a civil dialogue between the EU and the candidate countries, with the aim of establishing and reinforcing the links between civil societies in the member states and in the candidate countries”. Made even more urgently necessary after the negative outcome of the French and Dutch referenda and the misgivings expressed on various sides about the future enlargement of the Union, the objective of the dialogue consists in “responding to the existing doubts, improving mutual understanding and generating the debate on EU enlargement in society as a whole”. Provision is explicitly made for the participation of the “religious communities”. The dialogue will be especially focused on the candidate countries such as Turkey and Croatia, by supporting cultural events, twinning between towns, meetings between the media and student exchanges, and by systematically promoting the contacts of civil society. The Commission intends to allocate some 40 million euros for 2006 to activities linked to the dialogue. For further information: http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/index_it.html
