About 150 participants called to Europe on Wednesday this week in a debate organised by the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) and with the support of the European Movement International (EMI).

Martin Schulz, Leader of the S&D Group (EP), Joseph Daul, Leader of the EPP Group (EP), and Rebecca Harms, Co-leader of the Greens Group (EP), met at the Bibliotheque Solvay in Brussels to discuss the "The State of Europe Today".

The session, moderated by EMI Vice-President Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb, started with the presentation of a survey, particularly conducted for the Call to Europe conference. One of the main findings was that nearly 90 % of European civil servants consider that it is high time for political authorities to take good account of the apparent ascend of Euroscepticism. Additionally, officials have limited confidence in their own ranks, underlining that it is up to the Member States to stimulate allegiance to Europe.

"European civil servants seem to consider that European power is in the hands of the Member States — this prevalence reveals an element of weakness of European institutions that are supposed to assume this role" declared Massimo d’Alema, former Italian prime minister and President of FEPS.
 
The survey, conducted in June 2011 with a number of 231 civil servants, affirms that 84 % of the interviewed see the key role lying with European Member State governments when fanning the European flame again.

During the following debate, numerous participants subsequently voiced questions on how the EP political group leaders will be able to influence the decision making processes of their parties on the national level but did also refer to the new and empowered role of the European Parliament after Lisbon or the current discussion about the Duff Report on the EP electoral reform. 
 
The initiative Call to Europe was originally created to provide a set of answers about the long term vision for the future of Europe. The two day conference meant to contribute to a better promotion of the European political project. Call to Europe launched an intellectual exchange to inspire fresh thinking about the future of Europe.

To download the complete Power Point presentation of the survey, please click here

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