On 8-9 April, European and national representatives together with citizens met at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, for an exceptional Conference on the Future of Europe (COFOE) dedicated plenary. This is because, after almost a year of hard work, the formal working groups presented their final proposals. These texts are the result of the ideas put forward by the European and National Citizens panels, as well as the Conference platform.

During the plenary, the Renew Europe Group organised a Caucus meeting, which was attended by national and European representatives from the liberal family. The Caucus was presided by Guy Verhofstadt MEP, co-chair of the COFOE Executive Board, Věra Jourová, Vice- President of the European Commission and member of the COFOE Executive Board, and Clément Beaune, Secretary of State for European Affairs in France and co-chair of the COFOE Executive Board.

Attendees discussed the work of the working groups as well as the proposals from the citizens panels on the following topics:

• A stronger economy, social justice, and jobs
• Education, culture, youth, and sport
• Digital transformation
• European Democracy
• Values and Rights, Rule of Law, and Security
• Climate Change and the Environment
• Health
• EU in the world
• Migration

Jourová, who lead the last session of the working group on values, rights, rule of law and security, stated:

“Heavy but rewarding work today on finalization of proposals on Values and Rule of law at the Conference on the Future of Europe. Dedication of the citizens and other participants to these principles is inspiring. We need to follow-up on their recommendations!”

Heavy but rewarding work today on finalization of proposals on Values and Rule of law at the #FutureIsYours Conference.
Dedication of the citizens and other participants to these principles is inspiring. We need to follow-up on their recommendations!#CoFoE pic.twitter.com/QXy1er2PUy

— Věra Jourová (@VeraJourova) April 8, 2022

The plenary session of the Conference on the #FutureofEurope is taking place to discuss the recommendations put forward by citizens.

Our MEPs & Members of national parliaments from our political family met to discuss #RenewEurope‘s priorities.

Let’s renew 🇪🇺 together! 💪 pic.twitter.com/4nyLqb7w11

— Renew Europe (@RenewEurope) April 9, 2022

What’s next on the Conference?

The consolidated proposals of the formal working groups will be put forward by the Plenary to the Executive Board in late April. The final report is expected on 9 May in Strasbourg.

Since the launch of the Conference on the Future of Europe in 2021, ALDE Party has been playing an active role to bring citizens and national and European representatives together in the development of the Conference.  We have launched dedicated digital hub, a series of town hall 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.

Photo credit: Renew Europe