On Thursday 22 April, the Executive Committee of the Conference on the Future of Europe reached an agreement on the composition and functioning of the future citizens’ panels that will debate issues specific to European construction.
These panels will comprise 200 people, one third of whom will be young people under 25. There will be at least one male and one female citizen per Member State. Participants will be chosen at random, but in such a way as to constitute panels representative of “the EU’s diversity, in terms of geographic origin, gender, age, socioeconomic background and level of education”, according to a press release from the three EU institutions who co-chair the Executive Committee.
The panels are expected to meet three or four times, with the first session scheduled for after the summer, depending on the health situation. The locations for the meetings and the topics to be discussed have yet to be decided.
However, the most sensitive issues regarding the role and size of the Conference plenary were not decided on Thursday. The number of representatives of the national and European parliaments would be one of the main sticking points. The number of citizens participating in the plenary sessions and the number of participants from the territorial authorities are also controversial.
The European Parliament wants the plenary of the Conference to be able to adopt the recommendations that will be addressed to the European leaders. The EU Council would like the final say to be given to the Executive Committee, which acts on a consensus basis. In addition to this debate is the possibility for European citizens to take part, or not, in the decision-making process if the decision-making capacity is granted to the plenary.
The Executive Committee’s next meeting is scheduled for 9 May, the day of the conference launch event, although some suggest that a further meeting may be held on Thursday 29 April.
The three co-presidents, Ursula von der Leyen, David Sassoli and Charles Michel, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, and the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, will be present at the European Parliament’s seat in Strasbourg on 9 May. As announced (see EUROPE 12703/19), writer Yuval Noah Harari’s presence is confirmed, but not that of French singer Zaz. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)