The voice of civil society” “

Including the charter of fundamental rights of the European union in the future “constitutional treaty”, possibly modified and enriched; formalizing the commitment to promote procedures for regular consultation between the EU institutions and civil society; making provision for the participation of organizations of civil society, at least in the initial phase of the formulation of EU legislation; ensuring greater transparency in the functioning of the organs of the EU. These are just some of the proposals made in the course of the plenary session of the Convention for the future of Europe, dedicated to listening to the views of civil society, held in Brussels on 24 and 25 June. Europeans wish to have a Constitution. “We have reached the culminating moment of the phase of listening to civil society that preludes the phase of study and elaboration of the Convention. We attribute great importance to this moment”, said Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, president of the Convention, the special European assembly given the task of discussing the future of Europe and preparing the way for a future European constitution. And Giscard recalled that, according to the findings of a recent “Eurobarometer” survey, 63% of Europeans declare themselves in favour of a European constitution; the highest percentage was registered in Italy with 81%. To listen to the voice of the citizens of Europe, the Convention has had recourse to various mechanisms, explained one of the two vice-presidents, the Belgian Jean Luc Dehaene. First, a Forum was established on the Internet to which the public can contribute by accessing the Convention’s website (http://european-convention.eu.int): on this Forum, NGOs and other bodies may make their own contribution to the future European treaty: so far the proposals of 160 different organizations have been received, including those of the Commission of the episcopates of the European Community (COMECE) and the Conference of the European Churches (KEK). Second, the Convention is promoting debates at the national level: the Convention has so far received 22 contributions produced by such meetings. Third, the Convention has set up eight work groups, so-called “contact groups”, that have involved over 400 associations, NGOs, and cultural institutions active at the European level. The proposals sent in were described to the 208 representatives of the governments, the European parliaments and the EU institutions that compose the Convention, during the plenary session on 24 and 25 June. Scores of “stands” in the corridors of Parliament. Apart from the debate in plenary session, an unusual form of lobbying was permitted: scores of European NGOs set up their own information stands in the corridors of the European Parliament on the days of the plenary session. Not everyone was enthusiastic about this gesture of EU deference to the voice of civil society. More than one member of the Convention pointed out that perhaps EU “eurocracy” was, in this way, engaging with another bureaucracy: that of the NGOs with their headquarters in Brussels. The same observation did not escape the other vice-president of the European Convention, the Italian Giuliano Amato: “Millions of European citizens – he said – are not represented by the NGOs that have come to Brussels, but they will equally be beneficiaries of the Charter. It is easier to involve those who are members of associations and organizations. But we must pose ourselves the problem of how also to involve all the other citizens”. In this regard Eurobarometer has noted that only one European in 5 knows what the Convention is. That’s why the proposal for a referendum of all the citizens of Europe is gaining ground: it would be called to approve the final draft of the new European treaty, prior to the adoption of its final version by the intergovernmental conference due to be held not before 2004. What involvement for the Churches? The religious confessions and the Christian confessions in particular have been inserted in the contact group dedicated to culture (cf. the report on the following page). Meanwhile European Caritas and the corresponding organization of the Protestant and Evangelic Churches (“Eurodiaconia”) have joined the “social platform” headed by 38 agencies and federations of agencies engaged in social and charitable work at the European level, representing some 1,888 national organizations throughout Europe. Ignazio Ingrao