On Tuesday 12 January, the French Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune, raised the possibility of a co-presidency composed of a representative of the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament to overcome the deadlock delaying the launch of the Conference on the Future of Europe.
“A balance must be found between the European Parliament and the EU Council”, said Mr Beaune, referring to the option of a “collegiate presidency” involving in particular the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU.
The idea of a Conference on the Future of Europe was initially launched by the French President, Emmanuel Macron. While this citizens’ consultation exercise was initially scheduled to start in early 2020 and to last 2 years, the Covid-19 pandemic and the deadlock linked to the presidency of the Conference have delayed the start of the work, which will take place at the seat of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
This situation irritates MEPs. In the latest episode, representatives of the main political groups on the Committee on Constitutional Affairs wondered whether the European Commission and the EU Council were not simply afraid of the debate of ideas, in an op-ed published by euobserver.com.
According to Mr Beaune, the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, whose country holds the Presidency of the Council in the first half of 2021, wants to launch the Conference “in the spring”. And the city of Strasbourg will be “a central working place” for the conference.
Negotiations are therefore under way at the highest political level to unblock the situation. The idea of co-chairing the conference was first raised by the Greens/EFA group.
Mr Beaune did not question the need for the pan-European consultation exercise to take place over a long period of time, more than 1 year. But he nevertheless considered it “very important to have a meeting under the French Presidency” of the Council of the EU in the first half of 2022. According to him, “reforms” could be stopped in the spring of 2022, with a subsequent implementation phase of a few months. “The scheme needs to be refined” and “the Portuguese Presidency is currently working on it”, he indicated.
EU2022FR. The Secretary of State described the main thrust of the future French Presidency of the Council: “recovery”, “power” and “belonging”.
In addition to the implementation of the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan, he spoke about an industrial strategy for the EU, fair competition rules and trade policy. On the theme of ‘power’, he advocated international assertiveness by the EU vis-à-vis the United States and China. As for the “more original” subject of ‘belonging’, Mr Beaune cited the defence of the European model of society through its social and cultural components.
After Brexit, France also intends resume a campaign to defend French and, above all, “multilingualism”. Mr Beaune announced political and concrete initiatives in this area in the first half of 2022. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)