One of the aims of the Convention was to bring Europe closer to its people, and to listen to their views. However, the future of Europe and its role in the world are not only important to Europe’s own citizens, but also to people around the world. On the 27th of February 2003 civil society representatives from Asia, Africa and Latin America had a chance to express their expectations of the EU’s future role in the world, in a debate with representatives drawn from European Governments and the European Parliament.

Europe prides itself on its social dimension, and as being the world’s principal aid donor. These are fundamental elements for Europe’s development policies. "Since globablisation has no social dimension, only social consequences, Europe must use its commitment to social values to promote models of development that foster a fairer world" said Babu Mathew, Professor of Law at India’s National Law School and a member of the South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication. "A strong, separately defined and functional development policy is key for this to happen," he continued.

However all too often the EU’s development policy has been undermined by other activities of the Union – such as the CAP and fisheries policies. "There must be coherence in what Europe’s leaders say, with what the EU does" said Fiona Black, a Jamaican researcher on her countries milk industry. Mamounata Cissé, Deputy Secretary General of the ICFTU underlined the lack of openness of European markets towards products coming from the south.

As the Praesidium of the Convention published draft articles 24 to 33 for Europe’s future constitution, civil society from developing countries expressed their hope to see a strong legal basis for European development cooperation in the future constitution. Luis Perez from CIFCA called for a clear "development cooperation policy, independent from trade and external political policy". They called for the constitution to emphasize the principles of "coherence" and "integration" in article 8 of the draft constitution proposed by the Praesidium. The final outcome of the Convention will be decisive in defining the ability of the Union to assert itself as a promoter of peace and prosperity on the international scene. The eradication of poverty must be at the heart of Europe’s role in the world, and be one of the main objectives of the Union - independent from the Common Foreign and Security Policy. As if summarising the "Europe in the world" discussion, Guido Van Hecken, Chief of Cabinet for the Belgian State Secretary for Development Co-operation called for an "autonomous, coherent and sustainable development policy for the EU".

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