After three working sessions lasting several days, the approximately 200 European citizens who made up the third panel of the ‘Conference on the Future of Europe delivered a set of 51 recommendations on the challenges facing the European Union in relation to climate, environment and health, the European Commission announced on Tuesday 11 January.
These recommendations cover a wide range of areas such as agriculture, food, spatial planning, the circular economy, pollution, mobility, education and energy.
On this last point, Panel 3 calls for the EU to take measures to make “CO2 filters” mandatory, especially for coal-fired power plants, as long as the Union is still dependent on fossil fuels.
Member States that do not have the financial resources to set up such filters should receive financial support from the EU, says the citizens’ group.
Agriculture and food are the subject of many proposals.
Among these, the panel recommends: - providing subsidies for organic farming; - drastically reducing the use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers, notably through the application of stricter common standards; - reducing intensive industrial animal husbandry by introducing common standards such as a maximum number of animals and a minimum outdoor area; - discouraging the consumption of processed foods by taxing unhealthy foods and investing the funds raised in healthy foods.
In terms of mobility, they recommend, among other things, investing in new cycle paths and providing financial support to Member States to improve the connectivity of rural areas by developing public transport, in particular rail.
The citizens’ panel also wants the EU to adopt a directive requiring urban development programmes to meet specific environmental requirements.
In the ‘circular economy’ section, they advocate for, among other things, the introduction of financial incentives for companies that adopt fully biodegradable packaging and penalties for those that do not use such packaging.
Next steps
In the near future, Citizens’ Panels 1 and 4 will also adopt their recommendations. They will focus on the economy, social justice, employment, education, culture, youth, sport and digital issues (Panel 1) and on the EU’s place in the world and on migration (Panel 4).
The second panel, focusing on European democracy, values and rights, rule of law and security, adopted 39 recommendations (https://bit.ly/3r7aVdO ).
The recommendations of Panel 3 will be presented and discussed at the next plenary of the ‘Conference on the Future of Europe’, to be held on 21-22 January in Strasbourg, where the final proposals of the Conference will continue to be developed.
It should be noted that the document published by the Commission also contains recommendations that were considered by the panel but not adopted.
See the recommendations: https://bit.ly/3Gl6xy7 (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)