People from all walks of life taking part in a unique pan-European debate on the EU’s economic and social future have called for wide-ranging measures to address the economic and social challenges facing Europe.

They are recommending EU action to tackle global warming and phase out fossil fuels, develop a common healthcare system, ensure harmonised labour standards across the EU, create incentives to stop companies moving production to low-wage countries outside the Union, combat social inequalities and move towards a common social welfare system, and harmonise educational and vocational systems.

They also want action to regulate the financial markets and strengthen consumer protection, closer cooperation in the fight against crime, measures to promote sustainable agricultural practices, steps to make politicians and civil servants’ activities more accountable and transparent, and a greater role for the EU in dealing with illegal immigration.

These were the key issues addressed in 15 recommendations for EU action presented by the citizens and discussed with top EU decision-makers at the first European Citizens’ Summit in Brussels today (May 11), just weeks ahead of the June 2009 European elections.

The 150 citizens who took part in the today’s Summit were drawn from the 1,605
randomly-selected members of the public who attended the national debates organised in all 27 EU Member States as part of the 2009 European Citizens’ Consultations.

After first discussing the recommendations which emerged from this process among themselves, they then had a unique opportunity to quiz heads of the EU institutions – including European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso – and the leaders of the European Parliament’s largest political parties on these issues.

Commenting on their experiences at the Summit, here is what some of citizens said:
“It’s amazing to realise that even though we come from different countries, from different parts of Europe, we all care about the same issues”;
“Being able to come here and talk to the politicians directly makes me feel very proud”;
“It makes me believe in the democratic process”;
“My voice is being heard, I can speak openly and somebody is listening”;
“Now I know that Europe cares”;
“I hope governments will listen to us”.
The Summit was the culmination of the first phase of the 2009 European Citizens’ Consultations, which began in December 2008 with the launch of online fora in all 27 EU Member States to generate public debate and ideas on what role the Union can play in shaping our economic and social future in a globalised world.

These online fora attracted some 250,000 visitors and the ideas posted on them were fed into the national consultations held in the 27 Member States in March 2009, where citizens in each country discussed this question and agreed ten recommendations for action. These recommendations were then voted on by all the participants to choose their top 15.

Commenting on this unique and ambitious project, President Pöttering said: “With less than one month to go before the European Parliament elections on 4-7 June, this huge exercise in consulting citizens right across the 27 Member States is making an important contribution to informing the electorate about the important role the EU plays in their daily lives.

“More than 100 MEPs and candidate MEPs were involved in discussing the citizens’ recommendations for action with them. I’m sure that this was two-way communication with citizens, letting law-makers know which issues concern them most, and parliamentarians taking this on board and informing citizens what the European Parliament can do for them.”

This was echoed by President Barroso, who said: “European Citizens’ Consultations provide a unique opportunity for the public to discuss their concerns and ideas with each other, and with policy-makers. They inform and enrich the debate on how to shape effective policies to address the challenges we face, adding to the information we get from opinion polls and consultations with stakeholders.”

Note to editors:

The European Citizens’ Consultations are run by a unique consortium of more than 40 European partner oganisations, led by the King Baudouin Foundation (KBF), and co-funded by the European Commission under its “Debate Europe” programme, and foundations including the King Baudouin Foundation, Compagnia di San Paolo, the Robert Bosch Foundation, ING and funders at national level. The European partner organisations are European Movement International, European Policy Centre, European Journalism Centre and the European Citizen Action Service. The consultations have been organised under the patronage of the European Parliament.

As well as contributing to the political debate in the run-up to the June 2009 elections and feeding into the debate over how to respond to the global economic crisis, ECC 2009 is providing timely and relevant input for policy-makers as the EU begins work on a post-2010 successor to the Lisbon Agenda. Additional regional outreach activities are planned in the autumn, with a particular focus on the MEPs newly elected in June 2009, to ensure that the results of the consultations are disseminated and debated more widely.

ECC 2009 is part of an ongoing process to further develop citizen participation and consultation mechanisms. It builds on the success of ECC 2007, which established a new model for citizen participation through the first pan-European participatory project to involve citizens from all 27 EU Member States in the debate on the future of Europe. ECC 2007 proved that in-depth deliberation between randomly-chosen EU citizens representing the diversity of the population – using techniques and technology which overcome the traditional boundaries of geography and language – can provide valuable qualitative input into the EU debate, by discussing the issues and generating ideas for action themselves.

This complements and adds to the information provided by traditional opinion polls, consultation processes with organised stakeholder groups etc. The ultimate test of the ECC’s success is the extent to which the citizens’ recommendations provide valuable additional input into the policy-making debate; i.e. the role they play in helping to shape appropriate policy responses to the key challenges facing Europe.