fact files" "
The European Council meeting of 14 and 15 December adopted, as programmed at Nice a year ago, the “Laeken Declaration on the future of the European Union”. In the eight-page document it is affirmed that the fifty years of European integration have been able to guarantee a period of peace and prosperity to the continent such as has never before been experienced; nonetheless, the Europe of enlargement and political cooperation is faced by the need to change its original approach to tackle the double challenge of bringing citizens closer to EU institutions and assuming a leading role in the “government of globalization”. The Laeken Declaration analyzes the expectations of citizens and proposes solutions to satisfy them: “a clear, transparent, effective and democratic Community approach”, that may turn Europe into a “beacon” for the whole world, and that may be able to deliver “concrete results” such as growth in employment, higher quality of life, lower crime, quality education and better standards of health care. To be able to achieve all this, Europe, the Declaration affirms, must undoubtedly “renew and reform itself”. The Laeken Declaration poses a series of fundamental questions on “the challenges and reforms in a renewed Union”, aimed at opening the debate both within the Convention and at the level of citizens and civil society. These questions involve various issues, such as “better distribution and definition of competencies in the EU”, “simplification of EU instruments”, procedures to ensure “more democracy, transparency and efficiency in the Union”, and the “process towards a Constitution for European citizens”.
