In this interview, Manuel Marín, Vice-President of the European Commission from 1993 to 1999, describes the principle of solidarity as a key element in the relationship between citizens and the European institutions. He also asserts that the existence of a ‘democratic deficit’ within the European institutions represents a manipulation on the part of the media, and goes on to suggest that the reservations regarding the approval of a Constitutional Treaty were a strategy used by national authorities to promote their domestic policy interests, at the risk of lessening the interest of their citizens for European issues.