European Commission launches 20-language Internet Discussion Forum on the Future of Europe

The European Commission today launched an internet discussion in 20 languages on the future of Europe. This discussion, which all citizens are invited to join, is part of the Commission's "Plan D" for Dialogue, Debate and Democracy in response to a call by the European Council for a period of reflection following the negative votes in France and the Netherlands on the proposed Constitutional Treaty.

In a podcast message which can de downloaded from the site, Margot Wallström, Vice-President of the European Commission with responsibility for Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy, said:

"I often hear people say that they have lost confidence in the European Union because they feel that it has taken on too many responsibilities and has become very complex and difficult to understand. At the same time when we ask Europeans in opinion polls, they want the European Union to deal with - for example - issues such as unemployment, globalisation, pensions, healthcare, education and environmental issues.

We want to know what YOUR hopes for Europe are and what worries YOU as a European?"

The feedback of this discussion will be fed into the Commission's report from the period of reflection.
The address of the Discussion Forum is:

http://europa.eu.int/debateeurope/

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• "The Constitutional Treaty: The Way Forward" - Speech by EU Commissioner Wallström (18/10/2006)
• Speech by European Commission President Barroso - More Europe where it matters (15/3/2006)