Parliament opens up IGC debate

Date: 12/10/1995

By Fiona McHugh

ORGANISATIONS representing European Union citizens will air their views on the future of Europe next week, opening up a debate which until now has been monopolised by EU leaders.

In a move to revive flagging public interest in Union affairs, the European Parliament will play host to some 100 groups at a conference to be held on 17 and 18 October where they will be asked to spell out their concerns ahead of next year's Intergovernmental Conference (IGC).

“We have to avoid the trap of discussing the IGC only amongst ourselves - a trap we fell into with the Maastricht Treaty. We have to listen to what the people have to say,” says Belgian Socialist Raymonde Dury, architect of the event .

Dury says such a public hearing is long overdue. “We have been snowed under with responses. That shows how keen these groups are to express themselves and be understood,” she said.

Among the topics to be discussed at the hearing are citizenship, human rights, economics, home and justice affairs, the environment and social policy.

A mix of organisations ranging from farmers' associations to nurses' unions will participate and Carlos Westendorp, chairman of the IGC Reflection Group, Institutional Affairs Commissioner Marcelino Oreja and Parliament President Klaus Hänsch are expected to attend.

Dury hopes to take account of opinions expressed during the two-day forum in a report which she is preparing on the IGC.