On 21-22 January, the third plenary dedicated to the Conference on the Future of Europe took place in Strasbourg. Representatives from national, regional and European levels together with citizens discussed key elements of the Conference, including recommendations from the European and National Citizens’ Panels on issues related to EU democracy, fundamental values and rights and, rule of law and security as well as climate change, environment and health.
During the plenary session two representatives of Renew Europe in the Committee of the Regions Clotilde Armand, Mayor of Bucharest, and Cees Loggen, President of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) intervened on health and climate change. You can read more about their interventions here.
In connection with this plenary, the Renew Europe Group organised a Caucus meeting on 21 January attended by national and European representatives from the liberal family, including Ilhan Kyuchyuk MEP, ALDE Party Acting Co-President and Dita Charanzová MEP, ALDE Party Vice-President.
The participants discussed the work of the working groups concerning the recommendations of the European Citizens’ Panels. Moreover, the Renew Europe Group in the Committee of the Regions and LYMEC shared their priorities.
The meeting was chaired by Guy Verhofstadt MEP, co-chair of the COFOE Executive Board, Věra Jourová, EU Commission Vice-President for Values and Transparency and member of the COFOE Executive Board, and Clément Beaune, Secretary of State for European Affairs in France and also member of the COFOE Executive Board.
You can find pictures of Renew Europe’s COFOE Caucus meeting here.
ALDE Party remains committed to fostering an honest debate about the future of Europe with its Action Plan on the Future of Europe, which includes a dedicated digital hub, a series of townhall meetings, named in honour of our late President Hans van Baalen and organised with ALDE Party member parties, as well as an ALDE Conference dedicated to the Conference on the Future of Europe. Find out more here.
This time in Strasbourg, it was great to discuss not only at citizens' panels but with people in the corridors, with colleagues and journalist. This democratic free exchange, that is what Conference on the #FutureOfEurope is about.
— Věra Jourová (@VeraJourova) January 22, 2022
Merci @CBeaune & Danke @k_edtstadler#CoFoE pic.twitter.com/04WTSexlFl
Big ideas coming out of #CoFoE :
— Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) January 22, 2022
✔️ EU constitution & EU-wide referenda;
✔️ revisiting unanimity rule;
✔️ changing names & style of EU institutions;
✔️ media freedom;
✔️ citizen observers;
✔️ harmonising European election date & conditions;
✔️ a real Europe of citizens …
✊🏻🇪🇺 https://t.co/t2dLUUSA35
This weekend the Plenary of the Conference on the #FutureofEurope took place.
— Renew Europe (@RenewEurope) January 22, 2022
We listened to 🇪🇺 citizens and discussed how to:
🔵 make the EU more transparent
🔵 strengthen the #RuleofLaw
🔵 tackle the Climate Crisis
🔵 build a European Health Union & fight for #mentalhealth pic.twitter.com/3rA4NftWk3
@RenewEurope Group Members and Members of national parliaments met in #Strasbourg to discuss about the #CoFoE.
— LYMEC (@LYMEC) January 24, 2022
LYMEC was well represented by Vice-President @Danaascu, who shared our proposals and put particular stress on the #SingleMarket and the fight against #ClimateChange.💪 pic.twitter.com/ktyNRtZ2rn
The entire plenary session is available here and here. You can see some of the key highlights here.