Of all involved, 150 citizens were invited to Brussels to finalise a set of fifteen of 270 recommendations on "what can the EU do to shape its economic and social future in a globalised world" and to present them to EU leaders.
"The EU should aim to reduce global warming and phase-out fossil fuels by promoting renewable energy from water, solar, wind, hydrogen, waste and residues from industry," reads the number one recommendation as the result of this pan-European debate and voting.
This recommendation to EU policymakers received 419 votes, while the second one of the 339 votes says that the EU should "intensify its efforts towards establishing a common health-care system" and the third one which calls EU officials to "create the same working conditions and rules for all EU citizens based on a harmonised Labour Code."
A synchronised European educational system is at the fourth place, followed by the need to "create incentives to prevent production entities from moving to countries with lower wages," and to put in place measures promoting sustainable agricultural practices.
However, citizens think that EU executives should work on improving security on the EU`s external borders as well as on the poorly co-ordinated crime-fighting information systems among member states. Between top recommendations is also the need to put all efforts on bettering "treatment of illegal migrants" and "social protection", and to make stricter financial regulation.
European citizens had also complains on work of officials in Brussels so one of the main suggestions is a higher level of "transparency and accountability of [EU] politicians and civil servants."
"One thing that strikes me very clearly is that most of you want more Europe, not less Europe ... There`s an understanding that Europe has to do more," said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who attended the event organised by a group of independent foundations, think-tanks and universities from all EU member states, led by the Belgian King Baudouin Foundation, and co-financed by the Commission.
The 150 randomly selected citizens met the leaders of the political parties in the European Parliament, the representatives of the parliament, the commission and the European Economic and Social Committee, but afterwards they voiced hopes that the recommendations will lead to concrete actions.
However, many participants and observers alike seemed unwilling to believe the entire event was anything more than a token gesture.
According to EurActiv`s media report, one of the participants told that her personal opinion is that a lot of this is so the EU can be seen to be democratic, to show that they`re in contact with citizens.
"I think it`s great to get the citizens` point of view, but you wonder how much will actually make a difference," she said.
Sarah Sulub from Austria said she has liked this a lot, but the debates have been too short to express your own opinion. A Portuguese participant said the experience had been "amazing" and that there should be more initiatives like this.
"No-one at home knows how the EU works. I now know there are websites to provide information to citizens, but I hadn`t heard about them before I came here," she noted.
European Commission Vice-President Margot Wallstrom, who spearheads the EU`s Plan D for Communication which involves the European Citizens` Consultations, told the citizens that "you can all influence and contribute to European democracy and better European policies".
"I suspect some of these recommendations may come as a surprise to some politicians and to some member states; including the idea of a European identity card. That`s good! Without ideas and visions, suggestions and solutions like the ones you have discussed, politics won`t develop," said European Commission Vice-President, adding that citizens just need to have the right channels and the right tools for their influence and contribution.
Remy, a student from France, told EU Observer that he didn`t know if the recommendations would really be applied, but they [the politicians] really looked interesting.
"It is the first time something like this has been done. There are [European] elections coming and the EU belongs to the citizens," Stefka, a pensioner from Bulgaria, said.
Still, the most of participants said that the experience had helped them to understand and recognise the EU dimension of the problems that affect their daily lives.
* CEV Magazine is an online publication of the Centre for European Values. (Photo: European communities, 2009)
