Future of Europe

2007 has been and 2008 will be crucial years for the debate on the future of Europe: firstly the December Council of 2007 saw the signature of the heads of states and governments of the EU 27 to the new Lisbon Treaty marking an end of a long period of negotiation and reflection on the future institutional structure of the EU starting with the Laeken Declaration in 2001. 2008 will be crucial because the implementation of the Treaty would send a positive signal before the next European elections.

Progress has not come easily. The failure of the referenda in France and the Netherlands put the EU at a crossroads and made it think how to proceed with this lack of support amongst its citizens. The Plan D, a new overall communication strategy to engage the citizens and other stakeholders in the EU decision making process was launched. At the same time the Union committed itself to widen the opportunities for stakeholders to participate actively in EU policy-shaping and to ensure a high level of transparency and accountability of the institutions. Against this background the Commission launched the European Transparency Initiative in November 2005. Both initiatives are to put the EU back on its democratic roots.

The AER is and has been monitoring all these events and presented the voice of the regions within these new initiatives and for the future of Europe.