The Conference of Presidents of political groups (CoP) of the European Parliament approved on Thursday 4 March the draft interinstitutional declaration setting out the objectives and modalities of the Conference on the Future of Europe, with a view to holding a launch event on 9 May in Strasbourg.
The text, which had been the subject of unanimous political agreement in the EU Council the day before (see EUROPE 12670/3), was approved by all political groups except the sovereignist group ECR, which abstained.
On behalf of the Renew Europe group, Dacian Cioloș still requested a one-week postponement of the decision in order to obtain clarifications on the day-to-day governance of the Conference. “Some groups, like Renew Europe, wanted to be more specific in the declaration about the role of Parliament and responsibilities within the executive committee”, S&D group President Iratxe García Perez told journalists.
With this agreement, the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, has received a mandate to sign the declaration with the representatives of the European Commission and the EU Council, a step which should take place on Wednesday 10 March, on the margins of the plenary session of Parliament.
In addition to the difficulties linked to the health situation, the issue of governance has long delayed the discussions of the institutional trio. As a result, Parliament could not get Guy Verhofstadt (Renew Europe, Belgium) to chair the Conference officially. The agreed declaration introduces co-chairmanship at all levels of governance and in particular at the executive committee responsible for steering the day-to-day work.
In a specific statement presented on Thursday, the CoP stresses that “Parliament will play a leading role” in this consultation exercise that “will contribute significantly to building a Citizen’s Union”. “As group leaders representing the broad diversity of EU citizens, we trust that the European Parliament’s prominent role will be reflected in the work and in the practical organisation of the Conference itself”, it continues.
In particular, Parliament obtained the agreement that all political groups be able to participate in the executive committee (3 groups as full members and 4 groups as observers), including the Eurosceptic and Europhobic groups, so that they would not accuse the pro-European groups heavily involved in the Conference of silencing dissenting voices.
It is now up to the political groups to choose their representative to sit on the executive committee. At Renew Europe, it will be Guy Verhofstadt. Some, like Philippe Lamberts (Greens/EFA, Belgium), believe that the former Belgian Prime Minister will become the natural leader of the committee, even though no official role has been assigned to him. The S&D group still has to discuss this before choosing its representative, said Ms García Perez.
The Spanish Socialist considered that it was now necessary to “move forward”. “I don’t want citizens to end up being the losers just because of a structural conflict”, she stressed. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)