Closing the gap between Europe and its citizens:
The European Union as a case study in supranational governance

A European think-tank forum Brussels, 6-7 April 2001

Led by Vision and The Centre for European Reform
in collaboration with The British Council.

Vision (Rome) and The Centre for European Reform (London) in collaboration with The British Council (Bruxelles), are organising a series of round-tables to discuss the future of Europe. The aim is to bring together eastern and western debates on key issues in European integration, with a focus on constructive ideas for resolving central dilemmas of legitimacy, accountability and efficiency. In the longer term, the goal is to establish a forum for regular, non-governmental debate and to create an active network of European think-tanks, political advisors, journalists, academics and business-people representing all strands of opinion.

The first meeting will focus on how to close the gap between Europe and its citizens. There will be a mix of plenary discussions, panels and working groups. It will be structured around interventions from both participants and invited speakers. The meeting will open with lunch on Friday 6th April and close on Saturday 7th at 17.00.

Participation in the first event will be by invitation only, although we hope to extend the network and scope of the forum. The meeting will be off-the-record - that is, comments cannot be attributed to particular speakers. However, the focus is on output, with the aim of making the meeting's conclusions substantive, far-reaching and readily available to all. The working language will be English.

The organisers will cover hotel and meal costs during the Round Table but we ask participants to fund their own travel where possible. We recognise that this may cause problems and we have limited funds to contribute to travel costs in exceptional circumstances. The organisers are particularly happy to help central and east European participants to find travel funds: please contact us directly.

Please reply to:

British Council Bruxelles

Europe Unit

Rue de la Charité 15

Liefdadigheidstraat 15

1210 Brussels

Tel: +32 (0)2 227 0843

Fax: +32 (0)2 227 0849

E-mail: Roland.Gulliver@britishcouncil.be

Closing the gap between Europe and its citizens: The European Union as a case study in supranational governance
A European think-tank forum

Agenda
Friday 6 April

High-level Round Table with major speakers on the broad issue of how to close the gap between Europe and its citizens.

3.30-15.30 'What common values and vision define us as Europeans?'

Invited speakers include Vladimir Rhyzkov, Bronislaw Geremek, George Soros

Questions to be addressed: Do we share enough in the way of values (and vision of what Europe stands for) to consider ourselves Europeans? Are there values that are specifically 'European'? If so, do they provide an existential glue to make citizens identify themselves as European? Would it help to have a European Constitution to state such values?

16.00-18.00 'Does it matter if European institutions are unloved, so long as they are effective?

Invited speakers include Neil Kinnock, Norbert Pflüger and Pascal Lámy

Questions to be addressed: Are we sure that technocracy is worse than democracy? Is it still possible to take unpopular but necessary decisions, and think beyond the short political cycle? Should lobbies be ignored in this process? Is traditional, nation-state-based democracy really more representative than European institutions? Does the EU produce enough 'added value' for European citizens?

Keynote dinner speaker: Geoff Mulgan on 'Does Europe-wide democracy require a European demos?'

Questions to be addressed: In the internet age, does it still make sense to talk about a single European Demos? Aren't we talking about many different institutions for many different demoi and segments of the population? Is the EU primarily an institution for an élite transnational demos that is growing further and further away from nationally-based publics?

Saturday 7 April

Working groups on practical measures to address the legitimacy gap. Participants will be divided into three groups, each set a specific question to answer. Each group will need a chair, an animateur, and a rapporteur to report back the findings of the group in the plenary session in the afternoon. Each group will have an 'animateur' who will present a 10-minute overview of the issues - or personal thesis on the question - to open up the discussion.

9.30-11.00 Working Groups, first session
11.30-13.00 Working Groups, second session

14.30-16.00 Plenary session: presentation of the reports from the three Working Groups, then wider discussion of the position paper.  Chair: Lord Simon
16.30-17.00 Final discussion to agree a position paper

Group 1
What institutional tools might start to close the gap between Europe and its citizens?

The idea is to discuss institutional innovations to build a truly European policy-making process. What about a second chamber of nationally elected MPs? What would be such a Senate's role? What about direct elections for the Commission's president? How might the President's role change to reflect his/her direct mandate? What about having the people choose among a number of different multinational teams? What can be done to encourage cross-border political parties? Would EU-wide referenda help, or add another layer of complexity? Would people turn out and vote in such referenda?

Group 2
How might bottom-up action help close the gap?

This group will discuss the role of civil society in European governance. What role should think-tanks play in the expanding European agenda? How can we ensure the participation of individual citizens who are concerned about European issues? Are think-tanks an intermediary between the grass-roots and the political elites? Should they play that role? Would it help to create a truly cross-border, European media (TV and newspaper)? What about a European football team or music festival (like San Remo)? How important are initiatives like the Erasmus programme or Interrail for building Europe?

Group 3
Does a European demos require a homogeneous society?
How will greater diversity resulting to enlargement affect the gap between the governors and the governed? This group will consider the implications of social change in the context of enlargement. How will greater diversity affect European debates? How can the socially excluded be included in these debates? Who should be the main targets of an inclusive approach? Is the democratic deficit different in central and eastern Europe, or are the problems fundamentally the same as in the existing EU? Will joining the EU exacerbate some problems with democracy while alleviating others?

Closing plenary by Vision and CER

Think-tanks joining the meeting

France
Notre Europe
Laurent Bouvet, Revue Socialiste
Fondation Jean Jaurez
En Temps Reel

Germany
Ulrike Guérot, DGAP
Green and SPD think-tanks
Barbara Lippert, IEP

UK
Centre for European Reform

Frédéric Michel, Policy Network
Demos

Italy
Vision
CeSPI

Switzerland
Sandra Lavenex, Zürich

Norway
Jon Bingen, Europa-programmet
ARENA

Poland
Lena Kolarska-Bobinska or Jacek Kucharczyk, ISP (Institute for Public Affairs) Janusz Reiter, CSM (Centre for International Relations)

Hungary
Nandin Ramunajam, OSI
HIIA or IWE

Czech Republic
Petr Pavlik or Vladimir Handl, IIR

Slovakia
Institute for Public Affairs
VSE - Jana Reschová, Darina Malová

Slovenia
Danica Fink-Hafner, European Institute

Estonia
Jan Tonisson Institute

Romania
Alexandra-Luminita Petrescu, NGO advisor to Constantinescu
Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, Romanian Centre for Public Policy (CERPP)

Bulgaria
Nickolay Mladenov, European Institute

Yugoslavia
Ivan Vejvoda, OSF

Belarus
Almira Ousmanova, European Humanities University

Ukraine
Dimitry Koublitsky, Europe XXI Foundation