In a debate hosted by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) on 9 November 2004, representatives of all sectors of civil society met with MEPs Íñigo Mendez de Vigo (EPP-ED, ES) and Richard Corbett (PES, UK).
This was an opportunity for civil society to comment on the Draft Report of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) on the draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (2004/2129(INI)).
The Draft Report will now be finalised and the final version will be debated in a Public Hearing in the EP on 25 November 2004.
The Hearing has a set panel of speakers including one representative from each sector of the civil society: environmental, social, developmental and human rights NGOs together with the European Trade Union Confederation.
Given the small amount of time allowed for each representative, Richard Corbett said that written interventions were welcome.
Nicer than ’Nice’
The general idea was that most organisations were not 100% satisfied with the outcome of the Constitution. However participants considered that if it failed, the consequences would be catastrophic, as Europe would have to rule itself by the Treaty of Nice, which was not good enough already in 2000.
There was an agreement that European citizens were not aware of the real contents of the Constitution and were blinded by false statements coming from certain media dominated by some political groups.
The text should be presented to citizens as a lasting settlement, but that could eventually be amended.
Help us to help you
Representatives of civil society expressed their will to spread out the benefits of the Constitution and to balance the flow of negative information distributed by the media that has been monopolising the debate in certain countries.
However they demanded help from the EU institutions.
The European Commission could not formally campaign (and this is not recommended given the bad press of the EC at the national level), but they could provide with objective information and encounter misinformation.
The European Parliament should build partnerships with national Parliaments.
Finally, representatives of civil society, somehow more trusted than politicians, could tailor the arguments by sector and by country.
An example of this "tailored message" was given by Richard Corbett’s "12 short points on the EU Constitution" .
In this sense, the Opinion of the EESC on the Treaty (CESE 1416/2004) demands as a measure for effective communication of the Treaty to citizens the provision of resources, such as information tools and adequate financial resources.
