THE MUCH-DELAYED CONFERENCE ON THE FUTURE OF EUROPE IS SET TO START IN EARLY MAY, AFTER THE LEADERS OF TWO OF THE EU’S MAIN INSTITUTIONS FINALLY GAVE IT THE GREEN LIGHT AT A FORMAL CEREMONY ON WEDNESDAY
On Wednesday, Parliament’s President David Sassoli and his European Commission counterpart Ursula von der Leyen joined the
Prime Minister of Portugal, António Costa in signing a joint declaration on the Conference. The forum will be launched on 9 May and the first conclusions of its debate are expected to be drawn in one year’s time, in the spring of 2022.
A Commission spokesman said, “This begins the process that will enable citizens to participate in reshaping the EU’s policies and institutions and to address challenges old and new, while strengthening European solidarity.” But, speaking at a news conference in Parliament, Iratxe García Pérez, leader of the Socialist group in Parliament, cautioned that the forum must also embrace representatives from a wide range of society. She told reporters, “It is excellent news that the leaders are signing this agreement today to promote work on the Conference. It is a year late starting because of the crisis but also because of the blockage between Council and Parliament.” This is a reference to the year-long inter-EU wrangling, only recently resolved, over the composition and leadership of the forum. She continued, “This crisis has shown more than ever how vital it is now to discuss the future of the EU and to ensure that it complies with what citizens want… That is why I now hope that the participants will not be politicians or representatives of the EU institutions.” And closed saying, “It must also be open to everyone from across the spectrum, be it civil society, NGOs, unions, all citizens and people from national and regional parliaments. Each of these will have big role to play in this review. This is very important because the success or otherwise of this very much depends on how much it moves outside the Brussels bubble.”
Further comment came from Dacian Cioloş, the Renew Europe group leader, who said, “The Conference is a unique exercise in continental participative democracy. All of Europe’s problems will be put on the table. All solutions will be envisaged. It’ll be a Conference with the citizens and without taboos. This unprecedented democratic exercise will give European citizens a direct say on the Europe they want. All subjects will be up for debate, including the strengthening of democratic decision-making processes at European level.”