"European forum for civilian society" is the name of the meeting that the 25-member EU Parliament promotes on April 24th and 25th "as part of the dialogue about the future of the EU, launched after the French and Dutch vote against the Constitution". The meeting is promoted by the Commission for Constitutional Affairs of the Assembly, chaired by German PM Jo Leinen, who invited several representatives of civilian and volunteer agencies and the cultural community, "to exchange ideas about what they expect of Europe". "The discussion state the organisers in Brussels will be focussed on priority subjects as identified by the resolution passed by Parliament last January" (Duff-Voggenhuber) and therefore "on the ultimate goals of the integration process and the role of the EU in the international scene". This meeting "follows a number of local meetings about the future of the European project". The conclusions of the Forum of civilian society will be reviewed, along with those of the Inter-Parliamentary Forum due on May 8th and 9th, in the run-up to the EU Council next June, "which will have to draw the first few conclusions of the dialogue", with special reference to the continuation of the ratification of the Constitutional Treaty.
