Future of Europe Conference: Economic and Social Committee, follow-up on proposals to avoid “resentment towards EU”

There is a need to “follow up on the Conference and ensure that this exercise does not backfire and feed resentment towards the EU and its institutions”, said Christa Schweng, President of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), summarizing a plenary debate. Ms Schweng said that the process delivered “meaningful results” on “issues of concern for Europeans”. For this reason, it is now “vital to provide Europe’s people with specific follow-up measures” and information. The EESC calls for a “thorough, simple, transparent” feedback by means of online tools that are easily accessible. Secondly, the EESC is ready to play its part, in line with the Conference recommendations, as “a facilitator and guarantor of participatory democracy activities”, to find “the best possible way to support structured dialogue with civil society organisations”. During the year of the Conference, the EESC has “worked hard” as “the guardian and vehicle of the voice of European organised civil society”, a statement from the Committee reads: 75 events, 33 at national level and 42 at European level, were organised with the support of the EESC, bringing together more than 7,600 participants and making it possible to encode 60 new ideas on the Conference Platform.

Sarah Numico