The head of the delegation of 108 MEPs to the Conference on the Future of Europe (see EUROPE 12738/33), Guy Verhofstadt (Renew Europe, Belgium) briefed the European Parliament’s Committee on Constitutional Affairs on Tuesday 15 June on preparations for the inaugural meeting of the plenary assembly of the Conference on the Future of Europe, which will take place on Saturday 19 June in Strasbourg.
The conference will be “a unique experience” in seeking a balance between “participatory democracy” involving European citizens “combined with representative democracy” at national and European level, predicted the Belgian Liberal MEP.
At its inaugural meeting, the plenary assembly of the Conference, which will consist of 433 members, including 108 MEPs, 108 national MPs and 108 citizens (see EUROPE 12715/4), will decide on its rules of procedure and timetable of work.
Six plenary meetings will be held between now and spring 2022. Nine working groups will be set up, the same as the themes identified on the digital platform, which has already attracted over 17,000 citizens. There will be twelve MEPs per group, the distribution of which is still being negotiated internally. Two working groups will be chaired by MEPs: Manfred Weber (EPP, Germany) will chair the ‘European Democracy’ group and Iraxte García Pérez (S&D, Spain) will chair the ‘Economy for Citizens’ group. Two European Commissioners and a citizen will each chair a working group.
On Friday 18 June, the political families will meet in caucus to prepare the inaugural meeting of the plenary.
“The real work will only start after the summer”, Verhofstadt said. In the autumn, the four citizens’ panels will begin, each of which will meet three times before spring 2022 (see EUROPE 12728/27).
The first recommendations of the Conference should be transmitted by April 2022 to the European Council under the French Presidency of the EU Council. See the agenda of the plenary assembly: https://bit.ly/3d2oDbV (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)