A major citizen consultation launched a year ago, the Conference on the Future of Europe officially submitted its proposals this Sunday, to the Strasbourg Parliament.
What is the Conference on the Future of Europe?
Launched last year at the initiative of Emmanuel Macron, the Conference on the Future of Europe brought together 800 European citizens, randomly selected and grouped into four thematic panels of 200 citizens.
Invited to debate the future of the European Union during three deliberative sessions, they were able to formulate proposals to improve EU policies or its bodies. A collaborative platform also allowed any citizen to contribute their ideas.
After a year of debate, a final document was submitted to the various institutions of the European Union this Sunday in Strasbourg. It contains 49 recommendations, detailed in more than 300 measures, on topics such as European institutions, the environment, migration and even health.
“The format combines citizen and representative democracy. In addition to European citizens, European and national parliamentarians, representatives of the Commission and governments also participated in the process. This is a guarantee that the conclusions of the Conference will not be forgotten”, analysis for CNEWS Christine Verger, vice-president of the Jacques Delors Institute.
What proposals have been made?
Several proposals aim to make the European institutions more efficient and more democratic.
On the table for several years, the end of unanimous voting in the Council of the EU (meeting of ministers) is one of them. The citizens of the Conference propose that, on subjects such as the budget or taxation, decisions should be taken by qualified majority, ie 55% of the Member States (15 out of 27).
“There are too many subjects on which we are dragging our feet because we cannot move forward without unanimity. It is enough to see the difficulties that the EU had to have the directive on posted workers adopted”, emphasizes Christine Verger.
The 800 citizens also propose to set up transnational lists in the European elections, to give the legislative initiative to the European Parliament (currently reserved for the Commission) or even to establish the direct election of the President of the Commission.
Today, the President of the European Commission is elected by the European Parliament, on a proposal from the European Council. A procedure deemed undemocratic. “In 2019, the appointment of Ursula von der Leyen was not unanimous because she had not taken part in the European elections, unlike her predecessor Jean-Claude Juncker”, recalls the specialist.
Other proposals relate to an extension of the competences of the EU, in the field of health for example. “The pandemic has shown that sharing competences between the EU and member states would make it possible to move faster when dealing with this type of crisis.”
Will the treaties be reformed?
Certain measures, in particular those modifying the democratic functioning of the EU, require the reform of the European treaties.
It is a complex procedure, which requires obtaining the unanimity of the 27 Member States and the vote of the reform in all the national parliaments (counting the upper and lower houses, there are 39 in the EU) .
This Sunday, 13 Member States have already made it known that they reject a reform of the treaties. In a communicated distributed by Sweden, Poland, Romania, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and even the Czech Republic consider that the revision of the Treaties “has never been an objective” of the Conference.
“In reality, only 10% of the proposals of the Conference require a reform of the treaties, tempers Christine Verger. In many areas, political agreements could suffice”.
What will become of these proposals?
This Sunday, Emmanuel Macron said he was in favor of “the convening of a treaty revision convention”.
A simple majority in the Council allows such a convention to be called. Made up of European and national parliamentarians, it will be responsible for ensuring the follow-up to the Conference on the Future of Europe by working more precisely on the measures.
At the European Council next June, the Heads of State and Government of the EU will issue a first opinion. The Commission should do the same in September. “This report of 300 proposals must be digested, it is normal for the process to take time,” says Christine Verger.
The vice-president of the Jacques Delors Institute wants to believe that the Conference on the future of Europe will lead to concrete measures because “the pressure is strong, in particular because of the international context”.