Press briefing by Guy VERHOFSTADT, Clément BEAUNE, and Dubravka ŠUICA, co-Chairs of the executive board of the Conference on the Future of Europe.

VERHOFSTADT, Guy (Renew, BE)

Strasbourg

ŠUICA, Dubravka (EPP, HR, EC)

Executive Board of the Conference on the Future of Europe

BEAUNE, Clément (FR)

conference on the future of Europe (T)

Press briefing by Guy VERHOFSTADT, Clément BEAUNE, and Dubravka ŠUICA, co-Chairs of the executive board of the Conference on the Future of Europe

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERHOFSTADT, co-Chair of the executive board of the Conference on the Future of Europe, Ladies and gentlemen, we are in fact arriving at the, I would say, final work of the of the Conference on the Future of Europe. There was some scepticism when we started with this conference. But I think that in the meanwhile, all those who have followed and many of the journalists, many of you have followed it in detail, have seen that this conference is a unique experience.

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERHOFSTADT, co-Chair of the executive board of the Conference on the Future of Europe, An unique experience in the sense that for the first time we are not only listening, but we are debating together with citizens about the future of Europe. And it's a unique experience in the sense that not only the three institutions are working together, this in itself already is a unique experience, but that we do it with the full involvement of citizens who not only have participated through panels and through the digital platform, but also directly in the decision making process. 

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERHOFSTADT, co-Chair of the executive board of the Conference on the Future of Europe, And that is for the first time, I should say, a new way of a democratic process in which participatory democracy goes together with representative democracy. Personally, I am of the opinion that this way of policymaking could be a template for the future in Europe, but also in many of our member states. And personally, I hope that one of the key conclusions of the conference will be that also in the future -why not every five years in Europe?- we have a conference of this type in which politicians and citizens are working together on the future direction of the Union.

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERHOFSTADT, co-Chair of the executive board of the Conference on the Future of Europe, A future direction of the Union that is key in these times with Ukraine and more? I think that it's obvious that with the war in Ukraine and the aggression by Russia in Ukraine, there will be emerging a new world order. And in this new world order, it will be a world order of empires in which we need a more sovereign, a more autonomous, a bolder, a more integrated Europe in the future. And that's exactly the direction, also the recommendations of the citizens and hopefully also of the final conclusions of this conference. Thank you. 

SOUNDBITE (French), Cl&eacute;ment BEAUNE, co-Chair of the executive board of the Conference on the Future of Europe, I am very happy to be in Strasbourg in the hemicycle of the European Parliament, today and tomorrow, for this new plenary session of the conference. As Guy Verhofstadt said, this Conference on the future of Europe was a bet. A bet that we're winning thanks to the involvement of citizens in national and European panels, thanks to the work of many members of national parliaments and of the European Parliament, thanks to the work of representatives of civil society, local authorities and various institutions, including of course the Commission and the Council, and many proposals have been formulated.

SOUNDBITE (French), Cl&eacute;ment BEAUNE, co-Chair of the executive board of the Conference on the Future of Europe, The proposals are currently being exchanged. They will be adjusted at the end of this plenary. The next step will be a conclusion and summary plenary at the end of April, before a political closing event on May 9, involving the three co-presidents representing the three institutions. 

SOUNDBITE (French), Cl&eacute;ment BEAUNE, co-Chair of the executive board of the Conference on the Future of Europe, This experience was a bet, a successful bet, a unique gamble that has not been rendered obsolete by the dramatic current events we are experiencing. On the contrary. We have an even greater need to reform our Europe, to strengthen our democracy, to assert our autonomy or our sovereignty. Many recommendations of citizens, even before the beginning of this atrocious war on our continent, touched on these elements, at times on subjects that we experience in our daily lives.

SOUNDBITE (French), Cl&eacute;ment BEAUNE, co-Chair of the executive board of the Conference on the Future of Europe, We talked this morning about health, but also, for example, about energy or agriculture, but we'll also discuss about the strengthening of our European Union, its modes of operation, its security and its defense, its place in the world, its Rule of Law and its democratic values which will be the subject of our next session in a few minutes. It is therefore essential, even more essential, to keep this European democracy alive. We will need it.

SOUNDBITE (French), Cl&eacute;ment BEAUNE, co-Chair of the executive board of the Conference on the Future of Europe, As you know, France was very involved in this conference together with several others, including my neighbors, and I am very proud that we can give a political conclusion to this Conference on the Future of Europe under the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, in conjunction with the European Parliament and the European Commission on the 9th of May. This will be an important moment for our continent on Europe Day. And we can see to what extent, when we open the debate, when we ask for ideas, criticisms, remarks, proposals to move forward, European citizens everywhere, in the 27 Member States, on the online platform, are on board. 

SOUNDBITE (French), Cl&eacute;ment BEAUNE, co-Chair of the executive board of the Conference on the Future of Europe, And this need for democracy, reform and proposals is even more vital today. So, through this brief press conference, I want to thank above all the European citizens who have been mobilized for almost a year now to make proposals, to debate, to make democracy alive. It is very impressive to see their commitment in the panels, but also again this morning, in the plenary session and in the hemicycle of Strasbourg. 

SOUNDBITE (English), Dubravka &Scaron;UICA, co-Chair of the executive board of the Conference on the Future of Europe, As you heard from my colleagues, we are now in the decisive stage of this conference. He said that this is unique that citizens are deliberating together with their elected representatives. But it is also unique that the three institutions are working together for the first time, so we are together and I hope we will be in consensus in the final outcome. This is also very important.

SOUNDBITE (English), Dubravka &Scaron;UICA, co-Chair of the executive board of the Conference on the Future of Europe, As you know, we started this conference, we envisaged this conference in 2019. We started it in 2021 because we were blocked by the pandemic, as you know. But at that time, nobody could envisage that this bloody war will happen. And now I think we need this conference more than ever. And all of us agree that politics is not any more business as usual. We have to change also our behaviour, and this is the reason why we need our citizens in order to be empowered, in order to be strengthened.

SOUNDBITE (English), Dubravka &Scaron;UICA, co-Chair of the executive board of the Conference on the Future of Europe, All elected politicians, and I am in agreement, that we need citizens every now and then, to listen from them not only every four or five years during the election period. So we have to see and to listen to what citizens think during the period between two elections. And I think this conference is the best place for them. This is their forum and they are deliberating and what I see, what I have seen until now, their recommendations and their proposals are very good for Europe.

SOUNDBITE (English), Dubravka &Scaron;UICA, co-Chair of the executive board of the Conference on the Future of Europe, But as you know, we cannot pre-empt anything, today and tomorrow we will listen to the reports of nine working groups and then on the 29th and 30th of April we will have the final outcome, which I hope will be consensus from all of us, not only the three institutions but also national states and plus validation by citizens. This is what we are aiming at, this is our final goal.

SOUNDBITE (English), Dubravka &Scaron;UICA, co-Chair of the executive board of the Conference on the Future of Europe, As you know, this war has changed everything. World order is totally disturbed and since me myself experienced the war firsthand in 1991 in Croatia, in Dubrovnik, I know what it means and I know what it means when you are helpless and nobody is helping you. This time we are helping Ukraine with full support. As you know, all Ukrainian citizens have their full access to each and every service in the European Union. They are equal as us Europeans, they have access to health, access to social care, access to jobs, access to housing, to education, and this is very important. We are doing what we can for them.

SOUNDBITE (English), Dubravka &Scaron;UICA, co-Chair of the executive board of the Conference on the Future of Europe, I only want to mention that tomorrow there is a big pledging event in Warsaw, which is called Stand Up for Europe. So please, if you can somehow share and spread this via social media because I think this is very important, is done between us and the European Commission, but also with the Polish president of Poland and also Justin Trudeau, who is the Canadian prime minister. So this is also important. We are trying to do what we can under the circumstances which we, all of us, are aware of.

Q&amp;A, regarding the development of the project in the future, after the 9th of May.

Q&amp;A, focusing on the biggest learning points resulting from the Conference and from listening to the participants.

Q&amp;A, regarding the involvement of the citizens in the implementation phase, after the 9th of May event.

Q&amp;A, focusing on the political importance of the 9th of May, given the current situation in Europe.

Q&amp;A, regarding the feasibility of the citizens' recommendations.