A clash is imminent in the European Parliament over which body is meant to be leading the European Parliament's thinking regarding organisation of the Conference on the Future of Europe, which will begin its work in early 2020.
The coordinators of the four main political groups in the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) have prepared a draft resolution setting out the main principles - willingness to bring about tangible changes, European Parliament/European Commission/Council of the EU interinstitutional agreement on the conference, involvement of stakeholders, including citizens - which they believe should steer the work of the Conference (see EUROPE 12372/4).
They hope that this draft, which will be debated on Monday, 25 November in Strasbourg, will be ready for adoption at the December plenary (to read the AFCO Committee text, go to: http://bit.ly/2s2Lb7v ).
A working group led by President David Sassoli and made up of MEPs from the AFCO committee was set up at the same time and is working in greater detail on the governance and outline of the upcoming conference. The working group is expected to present the outcome of its work in Strasbourg on Tuesday, 17 December, with a view to adopting a second resolution in December or January.
The Conference of Presidents of Political Groups (CoP) will have to make decisions on several questions before that date: - should the European Parliament adopt two separate resolutions or merge the two projects into a single text? - if two texts are adopted, should this be done simultaneously and, if so, should that be in December or in January?
At first glance, these questions seem trivial, but they may be masking political rivalry regarding management of the work, which may ultimately have an impact on the identity of the person chosen by the Parliament to chair the conference.
A source on the AFCO committee who is close to the issue said that MEPs were “not happy” with the CoP's attempt to “pre-empt” the work being carried out by the working group.
Guy Verhofstadt (Renew Europe, Belgium) has been announced as the president for the conference. But his federalist beliefs have not been received favourably by the EPP group. “Sassoli and Tajani want to lead on this”, according to our source. In Zagreb, on the margins of the EPP Party's annual Congress, EUROPE received confirmation that the Christian Democrats want Antonio Tajani, the Chair of the AFCO Committee and former European Parliament President, to chair the work, which is due to last for two years.
The Greens-EFA group would prefer the conference to be led by a woman and for the person who is chosen to be commended by the plenary. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion with Solenn Paulic)