On Wednesday 28 February, the Debating Europe unit of the Brussels-based think-tank Friends of Europe published its report entitled ‘2024 Voices - Citizens Speak Up’, outlining in just over 60 pages the priorities of citizens and other challenges they believe the EU will face in the future.
Among them, the citizens surveyed described climate change as “the greatest challenge of our time” and called for us to “make up for lost time”. To achieve this, the report indicates that taxing major polluters and reducing consumption are the preferred options, although the first of the two options is more popular with the under-30s.
The citizens questioned also believe that economic recovery remains a priority. Here, according to the panel consulted, the solution could lie in increasing the salaries of key workers and working hard to tackle inequalities.
Without going so far as to endorse degrowth, the document also indicates that respondents are moving towards a “reorientation” of the “current economic model” based on “the pursuit of profit”, towards “a model that benefits society as a whole”.
Finally, the report looks at a number of other key issues. Among the conclusions, the lack of confidence in political leaders is highlighted, as is the importance of striking a balance between the hopes pinned on technology and dependence on it.
See the report: https://aeur.eu/f/b2e (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)