The
80 representatives of the European Citizens’ Panels took their seats as
Members of the Plenary and discussions focused on citizens’
contributions from:
The Conference on the Future of Europe is an unprecedented, open and inclusive democratic exercise, with a Multilingual Digital Platform, where all Europeans are invited to have their say on how to shape our shared future on various issues.
Quotes
The Co-Chairs of the Conference made the following statements from Strasbourg:
Guy Verhofstadt (European Parliament),
said: “The enthusiasm in the Citizens’ Panels is great, expectations are
high, the formula is working. Now the Plenary has to find answers to
the issues raised, in the form of a shared vision of Europe’s future and
concrete deliverables on how we reform the European Union. EU politics
have to rise to the occasion.”
Gašper Dovžan (Presidency of the
Council) commented that: “Tens of thousands of citizens continue to
discuss the future of Europe in the European and national panels and
events, as well as on the Platform. The Plenary will debate and bring
forward their recommendations in the areas that matter most to them,
without a predetermined outcome. This is the first Plenary under the
Slovenian Presidency of the Council and we were very pleased to welcome
representatives from our Western Balkans partners as key stakeholders
with whom we share responsibility for the future of the EU.”
Dubravka Šuica (Vice-President of the
European Commission) stated: "This is a historic moment where, for the
first time, citizens deliberate on a par with their elected
representatives at all levels. Bringing citizens to the core of European
policymaking will reinforce our representative democracies, as we set
sail towards our common future.”
Audio-visual coverage
Extracts are available on EbS, and all video, audio and photo coverage (including an edited video) can be downloaded from Parliament’s Multimedia Centre. A recorded press point with the three Co-Chairs is also available.
Next steps
The next Conference Plenary will take
place on 17-18 December. In the meantime, citizens’ contributions to the
Conference will continue to flow in:
- the European Citizens’ Panels will meet online in November, and the
first two will finalise their recommendations and present them in
Plenary in December;
- the Multilingual Digital Platform
remains available for citizens’ ideas and events, which will become
part of the third report due for December, and which will feed into the
last sessions of European Citizens’ Panels and the upcoming meetings of
the Conference Plenary; and
- national panels and events are still being organised in the member states.
Background
On the Plenary
The Plenary was prepared by Working Groups, which held their constitutive meetings on Friday.
The Plenary comprises representatives
from the European Parliament (108), the Council (54, or two per member
state) and the European Commission (3), as well as from all national
Parliaments (108) on an equal footing, and citizens (108). As part of
the citizens’ component, representatives from the European Citizens’
Panels (80), representatives of national events or national citizens’
panels (27, or one per member state) and the President of the European
Youth Forum take part in the deliberations. In addition, representatives
from the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social
Committee (18 from each), elected representatives from regional and
local authorities (6 from each), and representatives of the social
partners (12) and civil society (8) participate as members. For the
first time, representatives from the Western Balkans participated as key
partners.
On the Panels and the Multilingual Digital Platform
The Multilingual Digital Platform has
collected 8,600 ideas and 14,900 comments from over 31,000 participants.
The four European Citizens’ Panels have had their first sessions,
bringing together around 800 citizens from across the EU. There have
also been over 3,180 other events, across the European Union that have
brought together over 140,000 participants.
The reports from the first sessions of
the Panels and the lists of streams and subtopics the citizens selected
for their further discussions are available on the Multilingual Digital Platform:
Panel 1 A stronger economy, social justice, jobs / education, youth, culture, sport / digital transformation;
Panel 2 European democracy / values and rights, rule of law, security;
Panel 3 Climate change, environment/health; and
Panel 4 EU in the world/migration.