European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivers a speech during a debate on "The State of the European Union" at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on September 15. Photo: AFP

The European Parliament on Wednesday called for the EU to rewrite its underpinning treaties, as requested by a group of European citizens who took part in a major public consultation.

A majority of MEPs, sitting in the parliament's main chamber in the French city of Strasbourg, voted in favor of overhauling parts of the treaties to boost the bloc's democratic appeal.

Their resolution, however, was only advisory - any changes would have to be agreed unanimously by the EU's 27 member states, after approval by parliaments, courts and, in some cases, national referendums.

Guy Verhofstadt, an MEP and former Belgian prime minister who chaired the citizen Conference on the Future of Europe, tweeted that the vote was an "ambitious implementation" of what had been urged.

The two-year consultation, just ended, involved 800 EU citizens selected randomly but balanced for gender, age, education and socioeconomic levels looking at ways the EU works and what it could do better.

It came up with 325 proposals which would require an overhaul of how the EU currently takes policy stances and decisions.

Among them would be getting rid of the need for unanimous agreement by all 27 EU countries in sensitive areas such as taxes, social security, foreign policy and accepting in new members.

Another would be to empower the European Parliament to put forward legislative proposals itself, instead of weighing initiatives made by the European Commission or the European Council, which represents member states.

The citizens' conference also said it wants to see the EU take more responsibility in areas usually jealously guarded by member nations, such as defense and health.

AFP