Press Release: EU Vice President on the EU Constitution

Margot Wallström, Vice President of the EU Commission and Commissioner for Communication Strategy, addressed a meeting of the National Forum on Europe at Dublin Castle, Ireland, on 10 March 2005. She said that while the European Constitution was not a perfect document, she believed it would make the Union more democratic, more transparent and simpler. During the debate several Forum members expressed both positive and negative opinions about the Constitution, which was due to be put to the Irish electorate in a referendum.

The Irish Government announced, on 9 April 2009, that it had decided to close the National Forum on Europe. The purpose of the Forum, which was launched in October 2001, had been to promote public debate on the EU, its enlargement, its future and Ireland's place in it.