The ViewPoints | Conference on the Future of Europe - The Game Changer?

Conference on the Future of Europe

The Game Changer?

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With contributions from:

VP DUBRAVKA Å UICA

MICHAEL CLAUSS

VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR DEMOCRACY AND DEMOGRAPHY

PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY TO THE EUROPEAN UNION

DANIEL FREUND MEP

RICHARD CORBETT

MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT & WORKING GROUP ON THE CoFoE - GREENS / EFA

FORMER MEP, RAPPORTEUR ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL AND LISBON TREATIES

Vol II. June 2020 | Conference on the Future of Europe

CONTENT

PAGE 3 EDITORS’ NOTE: EMI EUROPEAN MOVEMENT INTERNATIONAL (EMI) The largest network of pro-European organisations that has mobilised citizens and advocated for European integration since 1948. #EurMove

PAGE 4 VP DUBRAVKA ŠUICA VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR DEMOCRACY AND DEMOGRAPHY

PAGE 6 MEP DANIEL FREUND MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT (GREENS / EFA)

PAGE 8 RICHARD CORBETT DEPUTY HEAD OF CABINET FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AND INSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS, CABINET OF THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

PAGE 10 MICHAEL CLAUSS PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY TO THE EUROPEAN UNION

The Editorial Team Petros Fassoulas, Secretary-General Christian Skrivervik, Comms, Design & Editor Federico Terreni, Outreach & Compilation

The Game Changer.

A Call for Greater Participation.

In a Crisis, we must be Great Europeans Cacophony or focus?

A Unique Opportunity. #TheViewPoints

Let’s Talk Budget

Conference on the Future of Europe

The Game Changer. by: European Movement International

The coronavirus outbreak confronted the EU with a challenge of Herculean proportions. It has shown the virtues of European cooperation but also exposed its shortcomings.

In this context, the Conference on the Future of Europe is an opportunity to take stock of the state of our Union and to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time.

The European Movement believes that the Conference can help broaden the debate and function as an open, democratic exercise by giving a platform from which citizens and stakeholders can have their voice heard, while strengthening parliamentarianism and representative democracy in Europe.

Europeans want to shape the decisions that affect them; over 200 million of our fellow citizens cast their votes in the latest European elections in 2019. But our Listen to Europe opinion poll found that European citizens feel disempowered and alienated, they fear that their voice does not count. So the EU must engage with citizens directly and frequently, not just during the EP elections every five years. The Conference on the Future of Europe is the ideal opportunity to do so.

Furthermore, the Conference should have buy-in and feature strong representation from all European institutions, as well as national

governments, local authorities, and civil society networks that are able to represent a broad spectrum of society.

The Conference is also an opportunity to debate important issues, such as the EU health policy competences, the creation of an effective system for the defence of human rights and the rule of law in the EU; the environmental challenges and climate crisis; the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights; migration; the development of a fully-fledged European Defence Union (EDU); the enlargement process; the deepening of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).

Moreover, the Conference is an opportunity to tackle European electoral law reform, and discuss the “Spitzenkandidaten� process and the establishment of transnational lists in view of the European elections in 2024.

While the future of the Conference remains uncertain and the EU institutions are locked in negotiations about its exact shape and mission, we have gathered the views from senior policymakers from the Commission, the Council and the European Parliament, to put forward their ideas and recommendations for the Conference on the Future of Europe.

To join the debate, please share your views on Twitter using the hashtag #TheViewPoints.

PAGE 3 The Viewpoints Vol. II June 2020 | Conference on the Future of Europe

Conference on the Future of Europe

A call for greater participation by: Vice-President Dubravka Šuica

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The Conference should facilitate an open, inclusive, transparent and structured debate allowing EU citizens to deliberate their future, to deliberate on their democracy, beyond European elections.

#TheViewPoints

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A well-functioning democracy is founded above all upon a relationship of trust. That trust has faced a stern test over the past few months in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Not just at the national level between citizens and their respective governments but also at the EU level. We are at a key juncture in the history of the EU. We cannot ignore the multiple demands and pressures that our EU institutions are currently facing. EU citizens widely accepted that the recent restrictive measures put in place are necessary for their protection. Such measures must be both temporary and proportionate and should not infringe on EU citizens’ rights.

On 27 May, the Commission launched a bold and ambitious recovery package to repair and prepare the EU’s social fabric for the next generation: “NextGenerationEU”.

This recovery must also be looked at from a democratic perspective. Citizens’ trust cannot be taken for granted and the EU is well placed to reinforce the trust they seek as we fight this pandemic together. One of the tools at our disposal for building trust and opening a space for dialogue and exchange is the Conference on the Future of Europe.

Citizens have been asking for greater participation in policymaking and the European Union heeds this call. Participative and deliberative democracy tools can help to reinforce democracy in the EU. This is where the Conference on the Future of Europe has a key role. In light of our markedly changed circumstances, certain aspects of this democratic exercise are being reshaped, including the launch that was to be celebrated with a symbolic gathering in Dubrovnik on 9 May. But the principles of the Conference, as expressed by the Commission in its Communication of 22 January, remain intact. The Conference should give European citizens a greater say on how and what the Union does for them. It

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VP DUBRAVKA ŠUICA VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR DEMOCRACY AND DEMOGRAPHY The Vice-President leads the Commission’s work on deliberative democracy and the Conference on the Future of Europe.

should facilitate an open, inclusive, transparent and structured debate allowing EU citizens to deliberate their future, to deliberate on their democracy, beyond European elections. An essential part of this will be the EU’s ability to provide citizens with tangible follow-up and feedback based on their deliberation. Now, more than ever, this Conference on the Future of Europe is needed.

When will it happen? Given the gradual easing of lockdown measures starting slowly across the EU, it is difficult to anticipate the precise date of the launch of the Conference. Also, the Conference is a joint endeavour. The Commission looks forward to engaging with the European Parliament and the Council with a view to agreeing a Joint Declaration, and launching the Conference on the Future of Europe as soon as possible. But this is just the beginning. For the Conference to be a success and truly inclusive, everyone will need to play their part: from national, regional and local authorities, to parliaments, civil society and the private sector.

We aim to mitigate the constraints of COVID-19 by digitising part of the process through an advanced multi-lingual platform designed to facilitate citizen debates online, across the EU.

reality. The European Parliament recognised this in its Resolution of 17 April. Citizens feel forgotten and they blame democracy for this.

It may be unfortunate that democracy gets such bad press but ultimately the fact that people blame it also shows the importance and relevance of democracy in our daily lives.

It is imperative to move forward. To think differently. No longer business as usual. Such is the case now for democracy and trust in the EU, but crucially also in the world at large – a highly geopolitical world that is increasingly interconnected and interdependent on many levels but also in danger of fragmentation and economic depression.

The COVID19 crisis is a painful opportunity to come together to work on the issues that need improvement. To have the courage to change and forge a new improved relationship. We need to hear from citizens. What they thought we did right, where we can improve and how we can go forward together. Citizens can look forward to doing this within the structure of the Conference on the Future of Europe. Together with the citizens, we can build a stronger democratic EU, both within and outside our borders, that is built on trust. An EU that belongs to each and every one of us and an EU in which each and every one of us has the opportunity to shape our common future.

The Conference is not designed to be a panacea for all ills. It is a good place to begin discussing and deciding on our new and common future PAGE 5 The Viewpoints Vol. II June 2020 | Conference on the Future of Europe

Conference on the Future of Europe

In a crisis, we must be Great Europeans by: Daniel Freund MEP

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Right from the start, we have to include those who have been most affected by the Corona pandemic: The European Citizens.

#TheViewPoints

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Corona has arrived in Europe in the middle of a phase of growth and prosperity. And it has hit hard. In the wake of a public health crisis, an economic recession is looming. Closed borders and national emergency laws were among the first responses to the virus and they left many of us wondering: Did Europe find the right answers to this crisis?

Without a doubt, European solidarity is put to a tough test.

Some Member States (the Frugal Four) have been blocking a strong, solidarity-based response. This puts us in danger of repeating the mistakes that have already made the euro crisis longer and more painful - and thus fostered the emergence of populism. In Italy, the number of EU sceptics has risen by 20 percent since the beginning of the crisis. In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban used the pandemic to issue an emergency decree to further destroy democracy without any decisive response from Brussels.

If Europe is perceived as unable or unwilling to act, centrifugal forces grow stronger.

We have to look at the crises of the past to understand the dynamics of the European response to the Corona pandemic. The euro crisis and the refugee crisis were characterised by a lack of European

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DANIEL FREUND MEP MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT (GREENS / EFA) MEP Freund is a member of the AFCO and CONT Committees, as well as of the EP’s Working Group on the Conference on the Future of Europe.

solidarity. Solutions were expected from the EU, but the Union did not have the tools, the money or the mandate to react.

It is no coincidence that crises always occur in areas where European integration has advanced but got stuck halfway: we can travel across borders in the EU but we have no common rules on immigration and asylum. We have a common currency, but no common economic and social policies to deal effectively with the consequences of an economic downturn. In a world where China is becoming stronger and the USA less reliable, a single Member State in Europe can still prevent us from speaking with one voice in the world.

The European lesson from Corona must not be: We leave everything as it is. If we want to be prepared for future crises, if we want a truly resilient and powerful Union, we must start a debate on how to deepen European integration now. The European Parliament is already in the starting blocks. In January, we proposed an ambitious Conference on the Future of Europe, thus starting a reform process that is set to lead to the most farreaching reorganisation of the Union since

the Lisbon Treaty. The aim: to make the European Union more democratic, more effective and also more resilient for the future.

Right from the start, we have to include those who have been most affected by the Corona pandemic: The European Citizens.

Therefore, Citizens’ assemblies must be a central element in this ambitious project.

Only with their contribution it will be possible to translate the desires and wishes of Europeans into political processes.

Just before Corona, the approval ratings of the European Union reached record highs.

A pledge to European solidarity was rolling off the tongue easily in the face of economic growth and the negative example of Brexit.

But the European Union is not meant to only function in fair-weather. Especially in a crisis we must be great Europeans. Now is the time for a step forward. Now is the time for European solidarity.

PAGE 7 The Viewpoints Vol. II June 2020 | Conference on the Future of Europe

Conference on the Future of Europe

Cacophony or focus? by: Richard Corbett

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The Conference should look at the whole range of EU policies and priorities as well as the functioning of its institutions and their democratic accountability, possibly even making proposals to revise the EU treaties.

#TheViewPoints

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There is widespread agreement on holding a Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) to distill a way forward for the European Union over the coming years. It has been held up by the coronavirus and by the failure of the EU Council to agree on its position regarding the structure and governance of the CoFoE, but there is an expectation that it might eventually start this autumn, at the very least in some form of on-line format.

There is rightly a desire to have a very broad input into the conference: not just from the EU institutions and national governments and parliaments, but also of citizens (especially young people), civil society, regions and cities, social partners and more.

There is also an expectation that the Conference should look at the whole range of EU policies and priorities as well as the functioning of its institutions and their democratic accountability, possibly even making proposals to revise the EU treaties. It has, after all, been a decade since the last major overhaul of the treaties (the Lisbon treaty) came into force.

The danger, therefore, is of having a 1000 people discussing 1000 subjects. There will be an acute need to prioritize.

In the past, major reforms of the EU were often preceded by some special form of collective reflection: the parliamentary “Assizes” (bringing together the national and European parliaments in Rome) ahead of the negotiations that led to the Maastricht Treaty; the “Reflection Group” prior to the Amsterdam Treaty; the Convention that (via the abandoned constitution) led to the Lisbon Treaty.

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RICHARD CORBETT FORMER MEP, RAPPORTEUR ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL AND LISBON TREATIES Corbett will advise the EP President and the EP SecrtaryGeneral on the Coference on the Future of Europe.

Looking back at these, we can see that they all focused in practice on three fundamental subjects: Competences: What should we do together?

What are the issues that need to be addressed at EU level, rather than just at national level, because of our interdependence or because of advantages of scale and of joint action? What should we be aiming for as our priorities for the future?

Capacity: Does the EU have the capacity and the tools to act effectively on those subjects?

Does it need to be able to legislate and regulate?

To spend (and if so, to raise revenue and/or borrow)? To arbitrate? To intervene? And does it have the capacity to decide effectively (by majorities, not by unanimity where the veto of one can block all)?

Democracy: how to ensure that decisions taken at EU level are taken democratically and transparently? That citizens can shape decisions?

That those in power are accountable? That fundamental rights are respected?

Under these three headings, there are of course a multitude of sub-questions. Just take the democracy heading for example: how to choose the Commission President in a way that reflects the results of European elections, how to ensure that all member states respect the rule of law,

how do national parliaments scrutinize the ministers who represent them in the Council, and many other questions will have to be addressed.

But some form of structure for the debates will have to be found if we are to avoid cacophony.

If the previous experiences are anything to go by, a broad consensus will eventually be found on a significant package of reforms. The bigger challenge will be to have them enacted afterwards. While changes to policy priorities are relatively easy if there is impetus behind them, most changes to the structure of the Union and its procedures require amendments to the treaties, which need consensus among national governments and ratification by every Member State.

That, indeed, will be the greater challenge. The previous experiences mentioned above showed that Member States only managed to reach consensus on half-measures and eventually had to return to unfinished business. That is why we had a new treaty, revising the existing treaties, roughly every 5 years between 1987 and 2010.

A major part of the process must therefore be about building sufficient political momentum behind the proposed reforms that emerge from the CoFoE. Without that, having whetted our appetites, it will leave us disappointed.

PAGE 9 The Viewpoints Vol. II June 2020 | Conference on the Future of Europe

Conference on the Future of Europe

A Unique Opportunity by: Ambassador Michael Clauss

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This is a unique opportunity, and it is worth taking the time to do it right. It is only the beginning of a conversation on our Union which can and must go on beyond it. European democracy, like any other, is a process.

#TheViewPoints

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Much ink has already been spilled on the immediate consequences of the COVID-19 crisis for the European Union, economically, socially and politically. The challenge is unprecedented; the crisis deeper than any other the EU has faced to date. Citizens have had to give up hard-fought personal freedoms, at least temporarily. We face a historic economic recession. For the first time in decades, borders across Europe were closed, rather than opened.

In these challenging times, a discussion on the future of the EU is as necessary as ever – more, even. How can we recover from the deep economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic? How do we respond to such challenges going forward? And what is it which binds us together, not just in the past but now and in future? Past experience tells us that Europe can, however, also emerge from crises strengthened: we are pushed to engage with fundamental questions about what our Union is and should be.

It’s no secret that citizens often feel less connected to decisions taken at a European level. To move the European project forward, we need to engage its every layer, and we need concrete results to emerge. For this to happen, the conference should be structured, clearly setting out how these questions are to be addressed. It should be transparent, allowing all Europeans to follow and understand its results. And, perhaps most importantly, it should be open and inclusive, engaging citizens from all social and economic backgrounds.

This unprecedented exercise in democracy is as necessary as ever. The EU must emerge from the crisis more sovereign

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MICHAEL CLAUSS PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY TO THE EUROPEAN UNION The Ambassador will play a key role in the institutional negotiations before the launch of the Conferance on the Future of Europe as the German Presidency begins.

and with more solidarity: recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic must be our top priority.

The first phase of the German Presidency of the Council of the European Union will therefore focus on reaching an agreement on the Recovery Fund, as well as the EU’s long-term budget, with which it is closely intertwined. Council President Charles Michel will take negotiations forward, and we will do all we can to support him in reaching an agreement this summer – the package is essential to soften the impact of the COVID-19 crisis.

As we emerge and recover from the crisis, the next phase of our presidency will bring another urgent and time-sensitive challenge: Brexit may already formally have happened, but negotiations between the EU and the UK government on the future relationship are still ongoing. If we don’t come to a conclusion in the autumn, we face the cliff edge of “no deal” at the end of the year. It will be no easy task to reach an agreement on the key areas of dispute – fisheries, competition, and governance – but we firmly believe a deal is possible if the UK takes a more realistic approach.

measures. Our economy must be stronger, but also more sustainable. Another urgent issue is migration, where we hope to see new momentum after five years of little progress.

And once we have begun our recovery and are emerging from the crisis, the Conference on the Future of Europe will offer a space to discuss long-term questions such as how to maintain our democratic values and what role we want to have in the world.

We are eager for work on the Conference on the Future of Europe to begin during our presidency. As we already know, the Conference will need to be rethought, exploring digital engagement and redesigning the process to adjust to the new conditions. But this is a unique opportunity, and it is worth taking the time to do it right. It is only the beginning of a conversation on our Union which can and must go on beyond it. European democracy, like any other, is a process.

Finally, in the third phase of our presidency, we will have to address the other critical topics which await. Many feared that action on climate change would take a backseat due to the coronavirus crisis, for instance, but the Green Deal will play an important role in the recovery

PAGE 11 The Viewpoints Vol. II June 2020 | Conference on the Future of Europe

European Movement International The European Movement is the largest pan-European network of pro-European organisations. It is present in 34 countries and encompasses 38 International Associations, bringing together European civil society, business, trade unions, NGOs, political parties, local authorities and academia.

Founded 70 years ago, we have continuously advocated in favour of European co-operation and integration, based on the principles of peace, democracy, liberty, solidarity, equality, justice, the respect for human rights and the rule of law.

What We Do Today, the European Movement seeks to provide a platform to encourage and facilitate the active participation of citizens and stakeholders from a cross-section of sectors in the development of European solutions to our common challenges. We offer thought leadership on the issues that confront Europe; we seek to inform the debates on our Union’s future, involve citizens and stakeholders in the decisions that affect them and influence policy-makers in favour of an open, inclusive, transparent and united Europe.

The European Movement aims to be the place where civil society, business, trade unions, NGOs, political parties, local authorities and academia come together to craft a way forward for the European Union. We seek to develop new ideas to address the challenges we face, be it economic or political. We want to spark debate on the EU’s architecture and develop forward-looking proposals on how to govern our affairs at the European level.

Our members are engaged in the daily business of influencing policy-making in the areas that affect them. The European Movement is the place where they have the opportunity to discuss the bigger issues, with organisations representing other parts of society, and allow them to shape the debate on the future of Europe.

European Movement International www.europeanmovement.eu Place du Luxembourg 2 B-1050 Brussels T +32 (0)2 508 30-88 secretariat@europeanmovement.eu @EMInternational

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@european.movement