EU Parliament: “Time is ripe for rethinking the EU. Start Conference on Future next autumn”

The European Parliament, which is holding its (online) plenary session these days, urges the EU Council to organise the Conference on the Future of Europe, which has been under discussion for almost a year and should have started on 9 May 2020. In a resolution adopted with 528 votes in favour, 124 against and 45 abstentions, Parliament declares that “10 years after the Lisbon Treaty, 70 years after the Schuman Declaration and in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the time is ripe for a reappraisal of the Union”. MEPs add that “the number of significant crises that the Union has undergone demonstrates that institutional and political reforms are needed in multiple governance areas”. Parliament also reaffirms its January 2020 resolution highlighting that “citizens’ voices should be at the core of broad discussions on how to tackle internal and external challenges that were not foreseen at the time of the Lisbon Treaty”. MEPs call on the other two EU institutions (Council and Commission) “to engage in negotiations to find common agreement before the summer break”, so that the Conference can start in autumn. The Conference on the Future of Europe is set to be organised by Parliament, Council and Commission and run for two years. Parliament wants citizens of all backgrounds, civil society representatives and stakeholders at European, national, regional and local level to be involved in setting the EU’s priorities “in line with citizens’ concerns in a bottom-up, transparent, inclusive, participatory and well-balanced approach”.Valentina Bombelli