Frankreich wird europäisches Bürgerprojekt ins Leben rufen[en][fr] 

Fillion's cabinet will first work in cooperation with other members of the French Government before presenting its project to the European Commission. The new initiative is based on a report on European citizenship recently presented to President Sarkozy by French MEP Alain Lamassoure (EurActiv 25/06/08). 

Introducing the report during a press conference on 30 June 2008, Lamassoure said it was high time to "start thinking about European citizenship". 

Appealing for concrete solutions, he outlined a series of novel initiatives such as the creation of a European citizens' card, which would replace a dozen administrative documents. 

Another measure would be to multiply the number of student exchanges in the EU through Erasmus programmes. For the time being, this remains at an "experimental level", with only 3% of students studying abroad, the report points out. 

Furthermore, the idea of creating a European legal system - a so-called "28th regime" - would enable citizens living outside their country (within the EU) to opt for this system instead of their own national law. This would not require the harmonisation of the 27 national civil legal systems, something which would more than likely encounter strong opposition from member states. 

A "new chapter needs to be opened" which would focus more on Europe's inhabitants, said Lamassoure. Stressing that the Union has not placed citizens' daily life among its primary concerns, the French MEP said the EU was "20 years behind" in this area compared where it stands on the economic Union. 

In the way in which Europe is governed, "the citizen has no power," Lamassoure said. The Treaty of Lisbon had planned to give more power to European citizens. The objective set by Lamassoure is to "reduce the gap between the EU and the citizens" by taking into account their rights. 

Transposing EU laws on a national level would facilitate people's daily lives, he said, pointing out that one third of directives do not apply everywhere or do not apply in the same way. Hence the "insufficiency" of the European law, he commented. 

"The good news is that improving the current situation won't cost anything" as it depends on "political will", he said. When suggesting a number of solutions (61 proposals), he stressed there is "no need to negotiate another treaty to sort out this issue".