The Strasbourg Appeal

Initiated by the European Union institutions, the purpose of this major public consultation is to hear what citizens have to say about what they expect from the European Union in terms of deepening democracy, the energy and digital transition, health, and so on. Over 80 events have been held in Strasbourg to gather citizens' views.

Against this backdrop, and with France having just taken over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union on 1 January 2022, the citizens of Strasbourg and the Eurometropolis are calling on the institutions of the European Union to pursue and complete the European project, around the values embodied by Strasbourg. This text is the result of work carried out by Agora Strasbourg Capitale Européenne, which since 2020 has brought together regional stakeholders around issues relating to Strasbourg's European status.

Everyone is invited to support and share this "Strasbourg Appeal".

The Strasbourg Appeal

As part of the Conference on the Future of Europe

We, citizens of the European nation, citizens of Strasbourg working to pursue and achieve the European project,

Recognising the historical European vocation of Strasbourg, a welcoming and cosmopolitan city, a pacifist city straddling European cultures, a city which stands as the symbol of European reconciliation after the Second World War,

Considering the presence of many European institutions in Strasbourg from the very earliest stages of the European project, which have helped establish a European area characterised by democracy, the rule of law and human rights and considering the first European Parliamentary Assemblies were held in our city,

Emphasising Strasbourg’s unique position in Europe as a European capital without itself being a national capital and as a testing-ground for a positive Europe, experienced by its citizens in their everyday lives through its cross-border location in the centre of the Upper Rhine region,

Reasserting the role played by Strasbourg in the emergence of European democracy, independently of national restraints, through the support and assistance provided by its elected officials, its academics and its pro-European activists for the major achievements of the European project and especially the accomplishments of the Strasbourg-based European Parliament, such as freedom of movement, European citizenship, the primacy of European law, the principle of subsidiarity, the single currency, together with the election of members of the European Parliament by universal suffrage,

Affirming our desire to contribute to a free and united Europe within a federal and polycentric Union guaranteeing the expression of a full and complete European citizenship benefiting the general European interest,

Contributing to the enhancement of the institutional workings and public policies of the European Union within the framework of the Conference on the Future of Europe, opened in May 2021 in our city,

We ask the executive bodies of the European institutions which support the Conference on the Future of Europe:

To unreservedly examine the proposals set forth by the Conference on the Future of Europe through its online platform and its panels, in addition to the work carried out by its plenary assembly, especially with regard to the challenges of democracy, of ecological transition and of climate change, and so respond to the expectations thus formulated,

To undertake forthwith the anticipated reforms of the European Union, convening if necessary a Constitutional Convention for drafting a new treaty,

To continue the direct dialogue between European citizens and their institutions and to maintain Strasbourg’s central role in the construction of Europe by strengthening the powers of the European Parliament and the instruments of direct democracy possessed by the European Union by means such as the European Citizens’ Initiative with its binding character, or by giving permanent effect to the forums of the Conference on the Future of Europe by endowing it with a permanent Convention,

To give the European non-profit sector fresh impetus by offering it a new legal framework through the creation of the statute of a European association,

To guarantee citizens their inalienable rights and to ensure that these rights are respected within Europe, by offering them the possibility of having recourse to the European institutions and to speed up the European Union’s accession to the European Convention on Human Rights,

To use culture to help renew the European Union and strengthen European citizens’ sense of belonging to the Union by drafting and adopting a European Cultural Charter providing a common basis for civic education, the teaching of history, the circulation of knowledge and the arts, the learning of European languages and the recognition of European cultural rights,

To promote a Europe inherent in the daily lives of its citizens, who will be able to experience and embrace its achievements.