Europees Parlement wil brede maatschappelijke discussie in alle 25 EU-lidstaten (en)

A leading MEP has called for a three-month long civil society dialogue to take place in all 25 member states at once to try and bring Brussels in touch with EU citizens.

Head of the Socialists in the European Parliament Martin Schulz said on Tuesday (21 June) that such a "civil forum" could discuss what people expect of their government, what they expect of their society and "what jobs Europe should or should not be doing".

He said it was important to have the dialogue "addressing the same issues at the same time in the whole of Europe" because during isolated national debates "national issues will always over-ride European issues".

Mr Schulz suggested that a model for the idea could be the national forum set up in Ireland after the Treaty of Nice was rejected in 2001.

The Irish government then set up a civic platform to discuss issues with citizens ahead of the second referendum on the treaty, which was passed the following year.

Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern also raised the proposal during the summit discussions on the constitution last week indicating afterwards that it had been well-received by his peers.

The German MEP proposed that the debate take place between January and March next year with the results to be fed back to the EU institutions to turn them into concrete action.

Mr Schulz said that after the failed summit last week which saw an unclear solution as to what to do with the constitution and no agreement on what to do with the budget, Europe is "running into a dead alley" rather than taking the initiative.

As part of a five-step plan for reviving Europe, he also suggested that a working group be set up to look at how to reduce burdensome regulation in the EU and that the part of the constitution that involves national parliaments more in legislation-making, be introduced.

The MEP is set to raise these thoughts when he meets German chancellor Gerhard Schröder and commission president Jose Manuel Barroso later this week.