Debate / Ten years after Maastricht, are citizens closer to the European project?

Strasbourg (European Parliament), 10 December 2001
10/12/2001

A debate organised by Europe Week – Europe 2020 – Window on Europe
Debate in French

Around MM Baron-Crespo, Lamassoure, Cohn-Bendit and Biancheri

This 10th December is the tenth anniversary of the Maastricht Summit. We are also on the eve of the Laeken Summit, which will make the “Future of Europe” one of its main battlegrounds. Soon – and in the midst of the work on the euro and enlargement – a Convention composed of around 100 people will be working on “options” for far-reaching reforms that will be proposed at the 2004 Inter-Governmental Conference. This one will decide. However, never has the gap between ordinary citizens and EU institutions seemed so wide. Hence the urgent questions: Why do the Commission and governments not seek popular support? Can we really continue the European construction without involving the populations?