The Conference on the Future of Europe, the opportunity for EU institutions to take stock of citizens’ views, that was originally scheduled for May 2020, will be postponed to at least September, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, European Commission Vice-President Dubravka Šuica told FT.
The Conference on the Future of Europe is an opportunity to listen to citizens and for the EU institutions to work together in a joint effort with civil society to achieve a more efficient and democratic European Union, as the European Movement International wrote in an opinion article in New Europe.
The policy debate that was the French President Emmanuel Macron’s idea, is expected to gather policymakers from Brussels together with members of national parliaments, local authorities and civil society groups.
While the fight against climate change, equality, digital transformation, and an economy that works for people along with the Spitzenkandidaten system and the transnational lists for elections to the European Parliament were the main topics of the conference’s debate, healthcare and EU’s response to the pandemic are now expected to top the agenda.
Commissioner Šuica added that a call for treaty change could be also put on the table by citizens, in particular concerning member – states’ competency on the health sector. “I am sure that nobody will be interested in the Spitzenkandidaten system,” said the EC Vice-President for Democracy and Demography.
Yet, Šuica finds that the Conference on the Future of Europe is now more important than when the European Commission took office in December 2019, as European nations are showing true signs of solidarity amid the pandemic.
