Policy Paper on the Conference of the Future of Europe

The Future Lies in Your Hands

The Conference of the Future of Europe (#COFOE) kicks off

Jul 6th, 2021
Helmut Scholz

On 18 and 19 June 2021, the first Plenary of the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) held its inaugural consultation, an event which marked the start proper of the CoFoE’s work. The CoFoE finally got under way in Strasbourg on 9 May 2021 (Europe Day), a year later than originally planned.

Ursula von der Leyen promised the newly-elected MEPs a wide-reaching debate on the EU’s future under the slogan A new push for European democracy, and to set up a conference designed to give political actors, civil society and ordinary citizens alike a platform to re-evaluate European integration, with reforms and even treaty amendments being on the table.

This change in direction towards looking to the future and making a public commitment to a ground-breaking, wide-reaching and open debate in which citizens of the 27 EU Member States could have their say was an attempt to win approval for the newly-installed European Commission. It was a bold undertaking to make.

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