In presenting to the European Parliament the Commission's intention to publish a White Paper on European Governance, President Prodi underlined the need for reflection on the enlarged Union's policies. The work programme for the White Paper, as approved by the Commission, provided for an interservice group to undertake the task of "preparing the organisation of a debate" at European level, including the applicant countries. The basic idea was to ensure, with the continental unification of Europe, the solidarity necessary for reconstruction by mobilising the historical, geographical and cultural inheritance which has helped to promote the growth of economic and trade relations throughout Europe. The mandate of the Group was to draw up a "discussion frameword" for the Union, its member states and the applicant countries, in such a way as to define in more detail the conditions for optimising the contribution of its policies to the needs of the enlarged Union on a 10-15 year perspective, and should cover all of the Union's policies, existing or foreseen by the Treaties. The group dealt with human resources, competitiveness and cohesion, diversity of Europe's territory, proximity policy. The group was presided over by Graham Avery and included members from various DG's. The group organised external auditions and drew up a list of correspondents interested in the future of Europe, from among researchers and practitioners in EU countries and applicant countries, the group was established in late 2000 and produced its findings in a White Paper on European Governance, "Policies for an Enlarged Union" and was adopted by the Commission on the 25 July 2001.
Material concerns the auditions for Group and documents distributed to participants.

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