In a little over a week’s time, representatives of civil society organisations from across Europe will be gathering in The Hague to discuss the future of the EU. This occasion, 60 years after the first Congress of Europe in 1948, will give Europeans a chance to voice their aspirations for the coming years, and their priorities for European integration.

When the original delegates met at The Hague, the potential borders of Europe were clearly defined. The Iron Curtain identified by Churchill ensured that Europe had set limits, and the union would be defined by these borders for the next forty years. The principal challenge for Western Europe was to create a ‘deeper union’ within the limits set by international geopolitics.
The challenges faced by today’s delegates, on the other hand, include a Europe whose limits are hard to define. The Lisbon Treaty will give the Union the tools to become more democratic, transparent and efficient in decision-making. The 60th anniversary of the Congress of Europe gives us an excellent opportunity to debate this and propose how best to deal with the challenges ahead, choosing new directions for Europe.
The Congress is imagined as a marketplace for European ideas. By gathering citizens and institutional representatives together, a frank discussion of the possibilities for Europe will be encouraged. In allowing open contributions through a blog “Speak Up Europe”, the European Movement has managed to collect over 350 such ideas, showing how keen Europeans are to discuss. On Friday, May 23rd, workshops will take place on Political Europe, Economic & Social Europe, and Education & Cultural Europe, addressing the same issues as sixty years ago.
On Saturday the 24th, conclusions will be presented to the leaders of the European institutions, who will be encouraged to respond. In the afternoon, televised debates will allow citizens to follow the discussion between the civil society delegates and the Presidents of the European institutions and the leaders of the European political parties and groups. By stirring up a discussion, these ideas may be fed into the manifestos for the European elections in 2009, also encouraging a public input on a never-before-seen scale. 
The original Congress led to the creation of a European court, a European university, a European currency…a European Union. Sixty years later, there is no reason why the people of Europe, in an open consultation, should not achieve similar levels of success.

H.H. Kroner