Finally, it happened! All four thematic European panels have finalised their recommendations.
There are 178, quite a big number! And they relate to a wide range of subjects!
Education, job, environment, health, climate change, EU foreign policy, migration, youth, and many others.
It is the result of 800 randomly elected citizens
discussing and debating for five months through online and in-person meetings.
Hey, it’s me again! In this video, we will talk about the Conference on the Future of Europe,
the EU democracy experiment which is not limited to
listening to citizens but rather, deeply involving them in EU policy-making.
If you want an explanation of the whole event,
I invite you to watch the first video we recorded on the subject, to get an idea.
Today we talk about the last panel meeting that was held in Dublin
at the end of February, where citizens came up with 48 recommendations.
The panel finalised recommendations on the economy, social justice, jobs,
education, culture, youth and sport.
Overall, citizens in Dublin asked to pass certain member state competencies’ to the
EU level. The general idea is, the more the system is harmonised transnationally,
for instance, on education, digitalisation, social rights and sport, the more Europeans will benefit.
Citizens also proposed, amongst other things, to introduce a minimum wage,
standard taxation and harmonised fiscal policy at the EU level.
They also ask to standardise some school programs, respecting national education,
but integrating a common EU one, particularly in the field of environment and digitalisation.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, citizens
proposed to create plans for schools to be better equipped in case of wars
or another pandemic, to avoid situations we experienced over the last two years.
Another pressing issue for panellists was that of digitalisation: On one hand,
they want to make digital devices and the internet available to everyone, organising training for the
youngest and the oldest. But on the other hand, they want people to be aware of the
internet's risks and give the EU power to fight cyber-criminality.
Generally speaking, for transnational problems, such as cybercrime, the improvement of education
tools, and social rights, they are looking for transnational solutions.
And they see the EU as the appropriate space to make these reforms.
As I have mentioned in previous videos, we still have a problem:
where are these recommendations going?
As the president of the European and Economic and Social Committee
Christa Schweng told EURACTIV, it is now crucial to create a screening process,
to see how to implement citizens’ proposals in EU policy-making. Otherwise, there is
a risk this significant deliberative democracy experiment could fail at the last hurdle.
At the meeting in Strasbourg last January, citizens of panel 2 and 3
discussed their recommendations. However, recommendations were not debated in detail
and several citizens felt the discussion was unstructured and not constructive. This happened
partly because a follow-up process had not been established before the conference started.
What is your opinion on the latter issue? How would you organise the implementation process
of the Conference on the Future of Europe? Let us know your ideas in the comments. In the meantime,
we will continue to keep you posted about the EU’s first deliberative democracy initiative!