In a bid to build on the momentum generated by the Conference on the Future of Europe, the European Parliament formally placed on the agenda of its plenary session in Strasbourg on Wednesday 4 May, a draft resolution calling for a process leading to institutional reform of the European Union (see EUROPE 12941/21).
It is important that our debate on the outcome of the Conference on the Future of Europe is accompanied by a specific resolution, said the S&D group Chair, the Spaniard, Iratxe García Pérez, at the opening of the plenary session on Monday 2 May. She reported “agreement among many groups” - in other words, pro-European political families - on the issue.
According to a draft resolution, the European Parliament says it is ready to act to follow up on the conclusions of the conference, especially those requiring a revision of the treaties in order to simplify the EU’s institutional architecture, increase the transparency of the decision-making process and the democratic legitimacy of the Union. Similarly, the innovative health and socio-economic solutions tested at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic need to be embedded in a new permanent institutional framework, it adds.
MEPs will give the Committee on Constitutional Affairs a mandate to prepare a second draft resolution by June, calling for the setting up of a Convention for institutional reform through the activation of Article 48 of the EU Treaty.
This will also reaffirm the Parliament’s position that strengthening European democracy must include giving the European Parliament the right of legislative initiative (see EUROPE 12941/22) and ending the unanimous vote of the Member States in the EU Council.
See the draft resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/1ge
Conference on the Future of Europe delivers its conclusions
The Conference on the Future of Europe concluded its work by adopting, by consensus, 325 final proposals to achieve 49 identified objectives, at a final plenary assembly on Saturday 30 April in Strasbourg.
These proposals had been concocted in citizens’ panels and compiled in a single document submitted on Friday 29 and Saturday 30 April to the plenary assembly.
Among these proposals in nine areas of activity (climate, European democracy, migration, the EU in the world, etc.) are the following: - reducing dependence on oil and gas imports through energy efficiency projects, support for affordable public transport, expanding the supply of clean and renewable energy; - introduce the possibility for the European Parliament to call, exceptionally, an EU-wide referendum on an issue of particular importance; - amend EU electoral law to harmonise the arrangements for European elections and to establish pan-European or transnational lists; - take European measures to ensure the safety and health of all migrants, especially women and children, and increase the accountability of the Frontex agency.
“This plenary reached a consensus on the proposals”, European Commission Vice-President Dubravka Šuica said on Saturday. “This conference will be historic as long as we implement what has been decided”, warned Guy Verhofstadt (Renew Europe, Belgium), who chairs the Parliament’s delegation to the Conference.
The conclusions of the conference will be presented to the three co-presidents - Ursula von der Leyen for the Commission, Roberta Metsola for the European Parliament and Emmanuel Macron for the EU Council - at a feedback event on Monday 9 May in Strasbourg, one year to the day after the start of this unprecedented citizens’ consultation exercise which began on 9 May 2021.
Denouncing an opaque and biased process designed to allow supporters of a closer Union to impose their vision of Europe’s future, the sovereignist and Europhobic ECR and the Europhobic Identity and Democracy groups withdrew from the Conference discussions.
See the proposals approved by the Conference plenary: https://aeur.eu/f/1GH (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)