Paper 13
“Can the Conference on the Future of Europe keep its promises?”
Spring (*), a private, non-partisan think tank active since 2013, welcomes with interest the creation of the Conference on the Future of Europe (the Conference), an excellent joint initiative of the three European Institutions. This first, unprecedented and very ambitious exercise in participatory democracy (#TheFutureIsYours) allows citizens of the 27 Member States, via a multilingual digital platform covering 10 themes, to propose their ideas, comment on those of others, and create and take part in events (**). A main pillar is made up of 4 panels of 200 citizens chosen at random (by nationality, gender and age) from the 27 Member States. These panels make it possible to reflect together on the future they wish for the European Union.
Let us briefly note a few concerns:
The health crisis and the (too) long negotiations on the structure and decision-making functioning of the Conference have unfortunately shortened its course, initially planned over two years but which must already conclude on 19 May 2022 under the French Presidency of the EU.
The experience of some of our members using the digital platform showed that this otherwise innovative tool was rather difficult to use. In May 2022 there were only 51,928 registered participants but 17,443 ideas expressed.
Were we not too ambitious in choosing 10 main Conference themes and 4 citizens' panels debating too many subjects (19, for example in the “The EU in the world” panel)? A Finnish representative on that panel regretted that few politicians were present, or left the panel after giving their speech…
Civil society is worried about the risk facing the Conference if the 27 Member States do not implement the citizens' proposals that are retained.
Without knowing at this stage the outcome of this Conference as regards the citizens' proposals that will be taken into consideration, we can already ask certain questions about the practical results of this exercise in democratic participation:
By what decision-making process will the 3 European institutions select, in the final report, the proposals for change coming from the digital platform and the 4 citizens' panels?
What is the main objective of the Conference? Is it a substitute for the normal legislative process, or a vehicle to speed up legislative change in certain areas where progress was too slow?
In the longer term, what will be the impact of the Conference, if it continues, on the institutional future of the EU and on the citizens' changes that have been selected?
Let us recall that tangible results will have to be obtained so as not to ultimately disappoint the citizens to whom this Conference was given the ambitious title “The Future is Yours and in your hands”.
www.springeurop.eu
(*) futureu.europa.eu
