On Thursday 16 January the Conference of Presidents of Political Groups (CoP) of the European Parliament decided on the composition of the executive coordination committee of the Conference on the Future of Europe, the body which Parliament believes should be responsible for steering its day-to-day work.
This committee would be composed of five members: three European Parliament representatives from the EPP, S&D and Renew Europe groups (one from each group), one representative of the EU Council and one representative of the European Commission.
Such a configuration displeases the Greens/EFA Group, some of whose representatives feel excluded, as does the GUE/NGL Group.
The Renew Europe group, which will take on a coordinating role, has already appointed the Belgian Guy Verhofstadt. Some already see him as de facto President of the Conference, although this architecture has yet to be negotiated with the Member States and the Commission.
The EPP group, which will work specifically on content issues and on how to make Europe more democratic, is expected to choose its leader, German Manfred Weber, according to several parliamentary sources.
The S&D group, which will look at citizen involvement, has not yet decided who will represent it.
Another source felt that the presence of women on the committee would be welcome.
The composition of the executive coordination committee had not been decided in Wednesday's adoption of the Parliament’s resolution on the Conference (see EUROPE 12404/1).
The Commission will present its vision for the organisation of the Conference on Wednesday 22 January.
At the EU Council, the Member States' ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) informally discussed this dossier on Wednesday, 15 January, on the initiative of the Croatian Presidency. The Commission placed the dossier on the agenda of the General Affairs Council on Tuesday 28 January.
Member States attach great importance to the involvement of citizens, do not want to commit themselves in advance to a treaty change and believe that reflection on institutional issues (Spitzenkandidaten process) should not interfere with substantive issues, a diplomatic source told EUROPE. It considered the governance of the Conference as envisaged by the European Parliament to be "complex".
The European Trade Union Confederation has indicated that it will work for a treaty change to include a protocol on social progress. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)