Many Member States believe that "the time has come to finalise the position of the Council" of the European Union on the modalities and objectives of the Conference on the Future of Europe, said the Croatian State Secretary for European Affairs on Tuesday, 26 May, at the end of the General Affairs Council.
Andreja Metelko-Zgombić stated that the EU Council Presidency was "more ready than ever" to embark on this path as early as next week at the level of Member States' ambassadors to the EU (Coreper). While she declined to say more about the positions of the Member States, particularly on the governance of the conference, she felt that the conference should analyse the way the EU had dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Earlier in the morning, her French counterpart, Amélie de Montchalin, said she was "very hopeful" that an agreement would be possible "in the next few weeks" at Coreper level. This step would initiate inter-institutional negotiations on a joint declaration laying the foundations for the future consultation exercise with European citizens.
On behalf of the European Commission, Maroš Šefčovič welcomed the idea of covering lessons learned from the current crisis in the framework of the Conference. "Our request is for the EU Council to get a position as soon as possible", he added. He also referred to the work in progress within the European institution on the creation of a multilingual platform for online debates.
On Tuesday, the European Parliament's Committee on Constitutional Affairs also debated the Conference on the Future of Europe. Pro-European political forces felt that the coronavirus crisis had demonstrated the importance of giving citizens a voice as early as next September.
"The Conference is more necessary than ever", said Paulo Rangel (EPP, Portugal). On behalf of the S&D group, Spain's Domènec Ruiz Devesa said the debate should also focus on the EU's ability, under current budgetary rules, to deal with health and socio-economic crises such as the one caused by the coronavirus. "The taboo of treaty change was meaningless before the pandemic, it makes even less sense now", he said, backed on this point by Daniel Freund (Greens/EFA, Germany). Helmut Scholz (GUE/NGL, Germany), for his part, called for pressure on the EU Council to take a position.
Guy Verhofstadt (Renew Europe, Belgium), who is expected to chair the day-to-day work of the conference, called on MEPs to prepare a "concise and punchy" draft resolution in the coming days for adoption at the June plenary session (see EUROPE 12487/13).
Other political groups have rejected President Macron's idea of organising a Conference on the Future of Europe. "We are afraid it will be a theatrical showpiece that would give the federalists the chance to avoid going through a Convention to give more powers to the EU", said Gerolf Annemans (ID, Belgium), supported by his compatriot Geert Bourgeois (ECR). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)