COPENHAGEN: The President of the European parliament, Mr Pat Cox, welcomed the decision to admit 10 new member-states to the EU. But he warned EU leaders that the work of preparing the EU for enlargement did not end with yesterday's agreement.
"A new challenge is now posed: explaining to our citizens what their political leaders have decided for them; earning their consent and support in a way that will show to citizens what is 'in it' for them. Once the 'event' has passed, it will be time to make the process of enlargement work. It will also be a time when communication needs to be carefully managed, to avoid generating false hopes or scoring own-goals by disappointing expectations. Our public opinion needs to be re-engaged in this process; it is a huge job," he said.
Mr Cox met EU leaders for 30 minutes at the start of their meeting in Copenhagen yesterday morning. He expressed concern at the progress of the Convention on the Future of Europe, which he said was likely to outlive its one-year mandate by several months. And he warned that the Convention was in danger of losing touch with "the plain people of Europe".
"In the constitutional debates in the weeks to come, we must avoid getting locked into a debate which appears to the public as a 'corporatist' and inward-looking debate. Institutional 'power-grabbing' and 'corporatism' will ultimately give the Convention a bad name. People will just not understand why their down-to-earth and real concerns appear to be drowned out by quarrels over who should wear the foreign policy hat or who should be sitting at the top table," he said.
Mr Cox said European citizens were less concerned about the EU's institutional architecture than about how effective the Union is in meeting their needs.
"People will judge the outcome on a number of criteria: does it bring the EU closer to the citizens? Does it enhance parliamentary democracy in Europe? Does it strengthen our ability to get practical results for the benefit of people on issues they care about - jobs, safe food, a cleaner environment - and in a way in which the citizen feels he/she can influence the outcome?" he said.
