THE President, Mrs Robinson, said the European Union should reach out to Europe's most marginalised and vulnerable countries which wanted their citizens to feel the benefits of its solidarity.
At the conference in Dublin which was attended by delegates from 20 countries, Mrs Robinson said Irish people were now aware of a "new extension of their sense of identity we are Irish and European" and stressed that European citizens should reflect on the importance of the EU's development.
The theme of the conference, "The Citizen Within the European Union", was "not a new one, but a relevant one", she said.
"Given the importance of what has developed and the opportunities provided to the 15 member states, what is the response to the countries in central and eastern Europe who have a strong desire to participate?" said the President.
She said they had to realise how important it was for the significance of citizenship at European level, that a way of participating be made available to those countries which needed support in rebuilding and strengthening their civil societies.
"There is a real need to reflect on how important these strengths are to vulnerable societies which emerged in a great democratic fervour, changing the face of Eastern Europe. We realise the economic decline suffered by individual European citizens and the urgency to reach out to these societies if we really value the concept of being citizens of the European Union."
The President said many important networks had been developed between member states in areas of social exclusion, such as unemployment and disabilities from which these countries could benefit greatly. European member states should reflect on the solidarity of citizenship.
She said: "We here in Ireland have been aware for some time of a new extension of our sense of identity, that we are Irish and European. One reinforces the other, deepening and enriching our sense of Irishness, because we are bringing with us our cultural diversity."
Prof Brigid Laffan, Jean Monnet Professor of European Politics at UCD, addressed the issue of democracy in Europe and stressed the importance of national identity.
She said the EU would not be democratised easily and without conflict. Organisations such as the European Movement, which had played an important part in the history of integration, were part of an emerging civil society in Europe that was transitional in character.
The EU stretched into the domestic policies of the member states and over many more issues of its public policy, she said.
The EU's process of integration also tended to give privilege to the power of governments accountable for what they do in Brussels and had been dominated by experts and specialists, resulting in it being portrayed in the "language of insiders - those who work in the system all the time".
"Defending the national interest, bringing home the bacon, and scapegoating the Union may serve short term political interests. Equally, governments take credit for Brussels decisions that are likely to be beneficial to national actors," said Prof Laffan.
"In both cases, national governments portray themselves as central to delivering the goods from Brussels on the one hand and protecting the nation state against incursions from Brussels. Ministers leaving Council meetings provide a national spin on what has happened to their national media, highlighting their role in securing benefits or limiting costs to their national constituencies."
The development of individual rights in the EU had been a slow process, beginning with the creation of the Common Market and its need for the free flow of workers she said. The Treaty of the EU now contained provision for the "Citizenship of the EU", an additional citizenship based on the rights people enjoyed in their member state.
"Since the 1980s, political actors in the Union have adopted traditional nation building strategies in the form of the European flag, passport, driving licence, a European anthem, and European sporting occasions to deliberately create a sense of identification with the European project. The purpose of these policies is to gradually change people's consciousness of political realities and the political domain to which they belong," she said.
On the issue of an EU vision, Prof Laffan said EU politics were essentially technocratic and driven by bureaucratic politics and permanent negotiation.
She quoted the Czech President Vaclav Havel's description of the EU: "I felt I was looking into the inner workings of an absolutely perfect and immensely ingenious modern machine. To study such a machine must be a great joy, to an admirer of technical components. But for me, a human whose interest in the world is not satisfied by admiration for well oiled machines, something was seriously missing. Perhaps it could be called, in a rather simplified way, a spiritual or moral or emotional dimension. My reason had been spoken to, but not my heart."