03Dec 2008
Launch of the UK website of the European Citizens’ Consultation 2009
The European Citizens’ Consultation 2009 (ECC09) website launches today (03 December) in the UK giving citizens the opportunity to discuss the future of Europe. The website is managed by Involve; the UK national partner in the ECC 2009 process.
In the run-up to the 2009 Euro-elections ECC 2009 will give citizens a voice in the debate over how to respond to the current economic and financial crisis.
The ECC 2009 will give European citizens an opportunity to discuss the economic and social future of the EU. The online debate on national websites is the first stage in a process which will culminate in a European Citizens’ Summit in May 2009.
Each national website will give citizens, policy makers and NGOs the chance to discuss their views on this issue, and help develop recommendations for national and European policy-makers. Their ideas will be fed into national consultations which will be held in all 27 EU member states in March next year, involving some 1500 citizens. The outcome of the events will be handed over to policy-makers at the European Citizens’ Summit in May.
Speaking at the official launch of ECC 2009 today, French European Affairs Minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet welcomed the project, saying: “I am delighted that this project is being launched at the end of the French Presidency of the European Union. It is innovative in its method, essential in the topics covered and absolutely indispensable in the times we are facing. We need to be ever more attentive to citizens at the European level in order to put them at the core of the Europe building process”.
Diana Wallis, Vice-President of the European Parliament, who also spoke at the launch event, also praised the initiative. ”European policy-makers need citizens as partners in a two-way dialogue, and that is exactly what ECC will provide on a large and ambitious scale,” she said.
ECC 2009 is the only citizen participation project to be funded by the European Commission in the crucial election year of 2009. Speaking at the launch, Commission Vice-President Margot Wallström said: “This project sets a new standard for citizen participation by working on the national and European levels, and by combining online and offline dialogue.”
The European Citizens' Consultation are run by a consortium of more than 40 European partner organisations, led by the King Baudouin Foundation (KBF), and is co-funded by foundations including the KBF, Compagnia di San Paolo and the Robert Bosch Foundation, and funders at national level. Involve is the UK national partner, managing the UK’s involvement in the ECC 2009 process.
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England
Submitted by Barry Cade on Thu, 05/03/2009 - 14:41.
Oh how I agree with these two comments. I am old enough to have voted when the issue was joining the then common market. I have never regretted putting my X in a box more since.
Since the current government split up the UK I now regard myself as English as against British and I have little or nothing in common with the rest of Europe.
Rumour has it that the Irish will be the first to leave the EU. Good for them!
I am a subject of the UK, not a citizen of Europe. Give the UK the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty it was promised in the government's ("the government" being the one in Westminster) election manifesto. Until the opinions of the people are listened to, and acted on, rather than regarded as obstacles to overcome this debate is just fluff, window dressing, and the EU will continue to be something that is being done to the people of Europe rather than for them.