Europe+ reaches out to MEPs
Europe+, committed to relaunching and strengthening the European debate and civil dialogue between civil society and open and responsive EU institutions, yesterday (1 July) sent an open letter to MEPs as the European Parliament gets back to work. The alliance which represents 43 organisations including CESI will host its launch event next week (8 July) at the European Parliament.

To the Members of the European Parliament,
Europe+ builds on the recommendations of the 2013 European Year of Citizens Alliance that developed a policy agenda to ensure a vibrant European democracy where decisions are made in line with citizens’ needs, aspirations and visions for society. We call on you to make sure that these recommendations are followed up on and that the provisions on civil dialogue of Article 11 of the Treaty of Lisbon are implemented.
Many improvements can be made to how the EU works, and future legislation needs to be made more transparent and open to input from civil society. Moreover, we believe all MEPs should be working to acknowledge and support the role of civil society organisations in bridging the gap between the European Parliament and European citizens.
Citizens need to be involved and have a say in policy changes and institutional reform.
Furthermore we believe that a Treaty revision process should be launched to ground the European project in democracy, solidarity and equal access for all to the fundamental rights. This would allow for the participation of citizens, and create greater transparency of EU decision‐making processes across all EU institutions and by national governments when deciding on or implementing EU related policies, programmes and legislation. We are convinced that the most democratic and appropriate instrument to achieve this Treaty revision is through a new Convention for the future of Europe.
This is why we ask the European Parliament to prepare a proposal for the initiation of a new Convention, according to Article 48 of the Treaty of Lisbon, and to use the full weight and legitimacy of your individual and collective mandate to insist that this Convention is democratic, transparent, inclusive, participatory and ensures close involvement of civil society. A new Convention should not only represent an opportunity for institutional reforms but also a step towards a policy change in the EU.
We, the more than 40 organisations that make up Europe+, call on you to work towards these goals in order to put citizens back at the heart of the European project and restore the legitimacy of the European integration process via open and democratic methods.