EU urged to create legally enforceable bill of rights

Groups representing hundreds of thousands of ordinary people demanded a legally-binding European Bill of Rights at a conference on the future of the EU yesterday.

With growing concern over the gap between politicians and voters in Europe, a two-day session of the European Convention, chaired by the former French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, is listening to non-political organisations. Those represented yesterday ranged from Oxfam and Attac, an anti-globalisation pressure group, to the National Confederation of Hungarian Trade Unions and the Confederation of European Forest Owners.

Many delegates used the debate to call for new rights, including protection for women, environmental rights and rights for animals. There was strong support for Europe's Charter of Fundamental Rights – a non-binding document agreed by the EU member states in 2000 – to be given legal force. Britain has opposed such efforts, arguing that the creation of a Bill of Rights would not suit its legal system. However, the Government may face an increasingly uphill battle.

The results of consultations will be fed into the European Convention, which will produce a report for heads of government who are due to revise the EU's governing treaty in 2004.

¿ Three readers of The Independent have been chosen to help shape the future of Europe by taking part in a youth forum set up to help the European Convention canvas the views of young people.

Claire McCarthy, 24; Miles Kemp, 25, and Carina Dunkerley, 21, were selected after submitting essays outlining their vision for Europe. They will attend the youth convention in Brussels next month with representatives from other EU nations and the countries applying to join.