When Ursula von der Leyen fought to be elected head of the EU Commission by MEPs in July 2019, more citizen participation was an important argument. She would like the citizens to “play a leading and active role” in shaping the future of the European Union, she said during her application speech in the European Parliament in Strasbourg and proposed a “Conference on the Future of Europe”. It should start in 2020 and last two years.
Because of the pandemic, consultations lasted just under a year, and many discussions between the 800 randomly selected citizens, ministers and representatives of the EU Parliament and national parliaments took place online. Interested parties were able to submit ideas in 24 languages via an interactive platform. The main reason why the conference received little attention was that many governments in the 27 member states viewed it with skepticism and hardly advertised it. Even in Germany and France, where the project has the strongest support, apart from experts and correspondents, only Europe enthusiasts knew about it.
This should change now, because the final report, which was adopted by the conference plenary in Strasbourg on Saturday and which contains 49 proposals and more than 200 measures, is explosive. In fact, many ideas require changing the European Treaties, and all Member States would have to agree to this – in France or the Netherlands, this would require referendums.
Among other things, the Future Conference proposes abolishing the principle of unanimity in many policy areas. For example, a national veto in foreign policy or tax issues should no longer be possible, in future decisions should be made with a qualified majority. The current state of affairs in which a member country – currently mostly Hungary – is slowing down or blocking decisions would be over. The only exceptions would be the admission of new members and changes to the basic principles of the EU. In addition, it should also be possible for European investments in the future to take out joint debts, such as to deal with the corona pandemic.
If the participants in the Future Conference have their way, the European Parliament should be given the right to propose laws like the EU Commission. Under the impression of the corona pandemic, they advocate that the EU also be given responsibility for “health and healthcare”; so far, the Member States have had sole competence here.
The EU Parliament wins the first round
Manfred Weber, leader of the Christian-Democratic EPP Group in the European Parliament, points out that the citizens sent a clear message: The EU must become stronger, more efficient, more democratic and more ambitious. The CSU politician says about the demands to give the European Parliament more power: “We don’t have to invent anything new here. We have a parliament and it should have the rights that are usual in democracies.”
It is obvious that Weber is satisfied with the final report – not only because transnational lists and the nomination of top candidates are being called for for the next European elections. In large parts, the document reads as if the major groups in the EU Parliament had written it alone – without the Commission and, above all, without the member states. Their representatives didn’t really take the future conference seriously, which now has consequences. At the beginning of the week, the nine-member “executive committee” of the future conference decided on the final proposals; it consists of three representatives each from the Parliament, the Commission and the Council of the Member States. There, Weber and the other deputies prevailed on all points. The first round, it goes to Parliament.
It is amazing that the governments of the member states did not resist. They were represented in the Executive Committee by the Czech Republic, Sweden and France. The government in Prague did not send a representative. Sweden’s Europe Minister, the social democrat Hans Dahlgren, had to admit that he has no mandate to reject the proposals. There were no major objections from the French Minister for Europe, Clément Beaune, which was expected: President Emmanuel Macron pushed the idea of the future conference.
The different positions could be observed closely in the plenary debates on Friday and Saturday. In addition to Weber, several MEPs announced that the EU Parliament would request the convening of a convention for treaty amendments in accordance with Article 48 of the EU treaty as early as next week. “All EU institutions and the member states are now obliged to implement these reform proposals,” says Green Party leader Daniel Freund. To set up such an assembly, only 14 governments need to agree.
Liberal Guy Verhofstadt made the most passionate appearance. “We will do everything we can to implement these proposals as quickly as possible,” promised the Belgian. Reforms are needed to preserve democracy in the EU and to defend Europe against autocrats, Verhofstadt told the citizen representatives, whom he thanked for sacrificing many weekends for the Future Conference.
Which ideas will now be implemented and, above all, when, is open
Stephanie Hartung, the German citizens’ representative, drew a positive balance in the SZ interview on Saturday: “It was a very strenuous and exciting experiment, but the proposals would advance the EU.” Hartung, who co-founded the “Pulse of Europe” movement, is pleased that both the EU Parliament and the Commission have shown their openness to implementing the ideas: “The Council of Member States will not be able to escape this dynamic.”
Apart from the Frenchman Beaune, their representatives are reserved. They, too, praised the commitment of the citizens and at least promised to “examine the proposals in detail”. Finland’s Europe Minister Tytti Tuppurainen said that instead of going through a “difficult institutional process with an uncertain outcome,” one should set about implementing concrete ideas. Because many demands, such as the promotion of high-speed trains, more renewable energies or the protection of biodiversity, can also be implemented within the framework of the current contracts.
However, it remains to be seen whether the European Parliament will be able to work out concrete proposals for amendments by the EU summit at the end of June, which the heads of state and government could vote on. “Treaty changes are not an end in themselves,” says SPD MP Gaby Bischoff. However, they are necessary in order to implement some of the proposals made at the Future Conference. Bischoff advises not to submit a wish list, but to take some targeted steps that would strengthen the EU and are actually feasible. This must be sufficiently discussed in the parliamentary groups and committees.