The Paris conference, called "The world looking at Europe", will be attended by the French Secretary of State for Cooperation, Alain Joyandet, and Louis Michel, EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aids. "Apart from chattering, do the Europeans wonder the organisers agree on a different view of globalisation? Are they prepared to base their common policies towards the rest of the world on their positive experiences? Can Europe use its own power within the international organisations to lay the foundations for a different globalisation? Is Europe ready to play a proactive role in providing universal access to the fundamental rights?". The event will take place somewhere between the French Presidency and the Czech Presidency of the EU, and in the run-up to the EU Parliamentary election. "The debates that will be held in 2008 and 2009", before the election campaign, "offer an opportunity to redefine the European project aimed to turn Europe into the propeller of a more controlled globalisation". The "direction of the European project cannot be changed unless the world tells Europe what it expects of it". ” “
