PRESS RELEASE : Conference on the Future of Europe – feedback event to take place in Brussels [December 2022]

The press release issued by the European Commission on 1 December 2022.

The European Parliament, Council and Commission will tomorrow organise a feedback event as a follow-up to the Conference on the Future of Europe.

The event will be an opportunity for the three institutions to explain how they are following up on the proposals stemming from the Conference and to exchange with those citizens who participated in the European Citizens’ Panels, as well as representatives of National Citizens’ Panels and events.

Since the closing of the Conference, the three institutions have worked to fulfil their commitment to act on the Conference’s proposals. They have started the implementation and follow-up process in accordance with their respective competences under the Treaties of the EU. The Conference’s 49 proposals include more than 300 measures on how to achieve them, across nine themes, based on the recommendations from the European and National Citizens’ Panels, as well as input from national events, the Multilingual Digital Platform and discussions within nine thematic working groups and the Plenary.

The Commission’s follow-up

The Commission will tomorrow provide feedback in line with its Communication on “Putting Vision into Concrete Action”, published in June 2022, one month after the end of the Conference.

Most notably, the Commission will explain how it is providing four different types of responses to the proposals stemming from the Conference, through:

• existing initiatives that address the proposals (e.g. the European Climate Law, the circular economy package, the EU global health strategy, the new European Strategy for a Better Internet for Kids, or the Youth Action Plan in EU External Action);
• initiatives already proposed by the Commission, where the European Parliament and the Council are called upon to adopt (e.g. the New Pact on Migration and the Media Freedom Act);
• planned actions which will deliver on the ideas directly stemming from the Conference (e.g. a revision of animal welfare legislation);
• new initiatives inspired by the proposals of the Conference, falling within the remit of the Commission (e.g. a future initiative on mental health).

The Commission’s Work Programme for 2023 is driven by the vision laid out in the conclusions of the Conference. On 14 September 2022, President von der Leyen in her State of the Union speech announced that participatory practices will be embedded in our policy-making toolbox through European citizens’ panels, which are being involved in certain key policy areas. For example, the new generation of citizens’ panels will deliberate on next year’s initiatives on food waste, learning mobility and virtual worlds.

The Commission is also developing a new online interactive tool for citizens’ engagement. This tool will integrate into a one-stop-shop portal all the channels available to citizens to contribute to policy-making: public consultations, European Citizens’ Initiative” and a new multilingual interactive space inspired by the Conference’s online deliberative space.

Members of the College said

Dubravka Šuica, Vice-President for Democracy and Demography said: “The Conference on the Future of Europe gave citizens a greater say about the Europe they want to live in. There is no doubt that we brought citizens to the very centre of EU policy-making. We have committed to ensure that they remain there. The Commission is moving ahead with its plans to respond to the Conference on the Future of Europe. No better time than now to improve our Union.”