Conference on the Future of Europe: another 3 plenary sessions for a final document. All citizens’ proposals will have to be part of it

As proposed by the French presidency of the EU, the steps that will lead up to the end of the Conference on the Future of Europe will see the common secretariat sewing up “in an objective and fair manner” the recommendations adopted by the citizens’ panels and the opinions sent to the multilingual platform (a final report summing up all contributions is expected to be published). The “general political goal” and the measures that need to be taken to implement it shall be described for every thematic area. “All recommendations adopted by the citizens’ panels must appear in the proposals”, the document points out, but no new ones can be added, without the panels’ approval. Then, two plenary sessions (25-26 March and 8-9 April) will be held to discuss such draft document by thematic workgroups, while the members of the Council attending the plenary sessions will have to discuss “the overall feasibility and the legal implications” of the citizens’ proposals, while making a distinction between what already exists, what requires new legal proposals and what involves, instead, amendments to the Treaties. On 29-30 April, one last plenary meeting will give a final reading to the thematic proposals, amended in the light of the debates in the workgroups. A vote will be cast to find what “consolidated proposals” should be considered to be “a priority”. Then, the executive committee will have to draw up the final report, which the co-presidents of the executive committee will give to the three presidents of the Conference (the presidents of the EU Commission, EU Parliament and EU Council) during an event on 9th May. “Every institution will then be responsible for implementing the new proposals, insofar as they fall within their remit”, but “feedback” must be sent to the plenary session about how work on the proposals is progressing.
Valentina Bombelli