The Ministers for European Affairs of the Member States of the European Union did not finalise their position on the objectives and organisation of the Conference on the Future of Europe on Tuesday 28 January at the General Affairs Council (see EUROPE 12411/15).
But the idea of holding the event in Dubrovnik to launch this wide-ranging consultation exercise was welcomed by many ministers, said two diplomatic sources after a ministerial meeting attended by the United Kingdom for the last time.
The Commission has proposed that this event take place on 9 May in this Adriatic port, in the framework of the six-month Presidency of the EU Council (see EUROPE 12407/10, 12409/2).
Describing the discussion as "very beneficial", the Croatian State Secretary for European Affairs, Andreja Metelko-Zgombić, said that "a large majority" of member states were able to support the Croatian proposal on the table. It will be up to the ambassadors of the Twenty-Seven to the EU (Coreper) to "finalise the mandate" of the Council in order to start inter-institutional negotiations on a joint declaration with the European Parliament and the European Commission.
The Croatian Minister stressed the importance of placing citizens at the centre of this exercise, which is supposed to last two and a half years, and of being able to listen to "different opinions" on the action of the European Union. An important role must also be given to "national parliaments", she said.
The Vice-President of the European Commission, Maroš Šefčovič, called for the establishment of a genuine "feedback mechanism" to ensure that the Conference is not just another listening exercise.
According to these diplomatic sources, Member States want the organisation of the Conference to be "as simple as possible" and do not want to commit themselves in advance to any institutional reform. It cannot be excluded that next week Coreper will reach an agreement on the governance of the Conference which respects the principle of "equal representation" of the European institutions. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)