Conference on the Future of Europe: the complex implementation of high ambitions

 European issues

n°636

21st June 2022

Conference on the Future of Europe: the complex 

implementation of high ambitions

Eric MAURICE

On 9 May after a year’s work the Conference on the 

future of Europe delivered its conclusions to chart 

the way for a "new, effective and more democratic 

Europe (...) sovereign and capable of acting", to 

quote one of its co-chairs, Guy Verhofstadt (BE, 

Renew).

The Conference, which was an unprecedented 

exercise in participatory democracy at EU level, 

involving citizens, experts, representatives of the 

institutions and politicians, will only have achieved 

its objective if Europe, and in particular its Member 

States, follow and appropriate at least part of its 

recommendations. A first discussion is taking place 

at the European Council on 23 and 24 June, whilst 

the Parliament has already expressed its position 

and expectations.

While a debate on the timeliness of revising the 

treaties was quickly launched around a few strong 

measures such as the abolition of unanimity when 

taking certain decisions, the questions raised by the 

Conference mainly concern the content and purpose 

of European policies and the participation of citizens 

in the definition and development of these policies. 

Initiated before the Covid-19 pandemic, launched 

and conducted between different phases of health 

restrictions, and concluded in the midst of the war 

in Ukraine, the Conference is both a review of the 

European project at a time of profound change as 

well as a call for its renewal. It is therefore fitting to 

examine its proposals and the possibilities of their 

implementation.

The Conference on the Future of Europe was 

suggested in March 2019 by French President 

Emmanuel Macron in his letter to Europeans, to "to 

propose all the changes our political project needs, 

with an open mind, even to amending the treaties". 

The idea was taken up by the President of the 

European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, with 

the support of the Parliament. Delayed by lengthy 

discussions between institutions on its functioning, 

and then by the pandemic, the Conference opened

on 9 May 2021 under the joint presidency of the 

Parliament, the Commission and the Council.

In a joint declaration, the presidents of the three 

institutions stressed that this was a "citizens-focused, 

bottom-up exercise" exercise and pledged to "listen 

to Europeans and follow up the recommendations 

made during the Conference". By including citizens 

in a broad institutional debate, the European Union 

has aimed to strengthen its democratic legitimacy 

and reinforce the link between the institutions and 

citizens. The Conference was based on the principles 

of inclusion, openness and transparency, and on 

the respect for European values. This complex 

mechanism was designed to cross perspectives by 

multiplying scales and actors.

A total of 6,465 events were organised in the 27 

Member States, with 652,532 participants. An 

online platform in all official languages registered 

five million visitors, with 52 346 active participants 

sharing 17,671 ideas and leaving 21,877 comments. 

National citizens' panels were held in six countries: 

Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania and the 

Netherlands. Four thematic panels, comprising 200 

randomly selected Europeans, were organised and 

produced 178 recommendations. These were assessed 

and synthesised by the Conference plenary assembly, 

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Conference on the Future of Europe: the complex implementation of high ambitions

which was made up equally of representatives of the 

three institutions and representatives of national 

parliaments, as well as citizens and representatives 

of the social partners and civil society. This final 

report was drafted by an Executive Board of nine 

representatives from the Parliament, the Commission 

and the Council, in collaboration with the Conference 

plenary. In total, the Conference conclusions contain 

more than 320 measures divided into 49 proposals on 

nine main topics.

Areas      Number of proposals      Number of measures

Climate change and environment 6 57

Health 4 24

Stronger economy, social justice and employment 6 61

The EU in the world 8 42

Values and rights, rule of law, security 6 24

Digital transformation 5   40

European democracy   5  35

Migration 5 16

Education, culture, youth and sport 4 24  49 326

The distribution of the proposals of the Conference on the Future of Europe

A PLAN FOR AN IDEAL EUROPE

Through their proposals, the participants in the 

Conference have outlined a project for a Europe that 

would be more ecological, social and democratic, 

intervening more directly in daily life and in national 

political frameworks. The measures proposed are, 

for the most part, in line with the priorities already 

expressed or implemented by the Union, but they go 

further. “The EU needs to be more than an economic 

union. Member States need to show more solidarity 

towards one another. We are a family and should 

behave as such in situations of crisis”, say the citizens' 

representatives, who believe that the Union “needs to 

be bold and act fast to become an environment and 

climate leader”.

This ambition is reflected in particular in the demand 

for greater political and financial investment to 

reduce dependence on oil and gas imports, including 

through the consideration of "geopolitical and security 

implications, including human rights, ecological 

aspect and good governance and rule of law, of all 

third country energy suppliers,” (proposal 3.2), and 

to develop more sustainable and accessible European 

and local transport networks. It is also reflected in 

collective objectives such as common minimum health 

standards at European level (proposal 10.1) or the 

promotion of employment and social mobility to allow 

people "to have a full chance of self-realisation and 

self-determination” (proposal 13.9). This ambition 

is also reflected in the proposals to strengthen the 

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Conference on the Future of Europe: the complex implementation of high ambitions

European data protection model (proposal 26) or to 

step up the combat against disinformation, including 

through a “review of the media business model” to 

ensure their integrity and independence (proposal 

27.1).

In this quest for an ideal Europe, the Conference has 

therefore not hesitated to call for a more dirigiste 

Union, which would, for example, introduce "coercion 

and reward system to tackle pollution applying the 

polluter pays principle” (proposal 2.2) or reduce 

subsidies to “agricultural mass production” and 

redirect them towards “environmentally sustainable 

agriculture” (proposition 30.3). Delegates also 

requested the European Union "not to compromise on 

welfare rights (public health, public education, labour 

policies)" (proposal 14.2), and make it "mandatory for 

children to reach competence in an active EU language 

other than their own to the highest possible level.” 

(proposal 48.2). It would also like the European Union 

to take steps to "to guarantee that all families enjoy 

equal family rights in all Member States”, including 

the right to marriage and adoption for all (proposal 

15.5).

While the proposed measures as a whole tend towards 

an increased Europeanisation of policies and means 

of action, they also reflect a demand for regulation 

that is surprising in view of the criticism traditionally 

levelled at the Union, moving away from the “big on 

big things, small on small things” initiated by the 

Commission. The Conference also hopes to see the 

European Union “promote a plant-based diet on the 

grounds of climate protection and the preservation 

of the environment" (proposal 6.8), "develop at EU 

level a standard educational programme on healthy 

lifestyles” (proposal 9.2), and to protect pedestrians 

and cyclists by “guaranteeing road safety and by 

providing training on road traffic rules" (proposal 4.7).

STRENGTHENING COMPETENCES AND 

INSTITUTIONS

The vast majority of the Conference's proposals, 

particularly in the fields of the environment and 

energy, digital technology, the economy and social 

affairs, correspond to a deepening of existing policies, 

so as to increase their scope or accelerate their 

effects. However, the participants in the Conference 

recommended deepening Community integration in 

areas identified as important in tackling the current 

crises or strengthening Europeans' sense of belonging. 

This is the case for health, the environment, education 

and foreign policy. This deeper integration would be 

achieved either by extending the European Union's 

competences or by strengthening its institutions and 

agencies.

For example, the Conference calls for "health and 

health care" to be included among the competences 

shared between the European Union and its Member 

States, "in order to achieve the necessary coordinated, 

long-term action at Union level" (proposal 8.3). 

As noted during the COVID-19 pandemic, to date 

the European Union has only enjoyed a supporting 

competence[1] in terms of public health and shared 

competence in a limited number of areas, such as 

the improvement of public health, the prevention 

of diseases and physical health hazards, the fight 

against “major health scourges” and the monitoring 

of serious cross-border threats to health[2].

The Conference proposes the establishment of new 

shared competences in the field of education, which 

is currently only a supporting competence, with a 

view to enabling the creation by 2025 of "an inclusive 

European education area within which all citizens have 

equal access to education". Participants requested 

this change “at a minimum in the field of citizenship 

education” (proposal 46.1), including climate change 

and environmental education (proposal 6.7), and 

data protection (proposal 26.3). This extension of 

Community competence would lead to increased 

cooperation on national, regional and local school 

programmes. The implementation of these new 

competences would imply the modification of article 4

TFEU, which specifies the areas concerned. Similarly, 

it proposes strengthening the EU's competences in 

the field of social policies (proposal 14.1) as a way of 

moving towards 'full' implementation of the European 

Social Rights Framework adopted in 2017.

[1] This means that the European Union cannot legislate 

but can support, coordinate or complement the action of the 

Member States.

[2] Article 168 TFEU.

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Conference on the Future of Europe: the complex implementation of high ambitions

For the Conference participants, the strengthening 

of the Community institutions is a corollary of the 

enlargement of the European Union's competences. 

One of the most important proposals is to give the 

Parliament a right of legislative initiative (proposal 

38.4), and the right to “decide” the budget like 

national parliaments do (proposal 38.4). This last 

proposal, which would allow the Parliament to 

amend the Multiannual Financial Framework and not 

just approve or reject it as is currently the case, is 

contested by the Council, which considers that it does 

not emanate from the citizens, and the members of 

the citizens' panels, who point out that they have not 

had enough time to study it - implying that it has 

been introduced by the Parliament.

As a logical consequence of the increased 

communitarisation of policies reflected in these 

proposals, the end of unanimity voting in the Council 

is one of the other strong measures recommended 

by the Conference. Delegates believe that “All issues 

decided by way of unanimity should be decided by 

way of a qualified majority[3]”, allowing decisions on 

the accession of new States or on the modification 

of fundamental principles to be the “only exceptions” 

(proposal 39.1). In particular, they mention the 

common foreign and security policy (proposal 21.1) 

and fiscal policy (proposal 16.1). Without giving further 

details, they suggest that qualified majority voting 

should be used for decisions on "themes identified as 

being of 'European interest', such as environment”. 

MORE INVOLVEMENT ON THE PART OF THE 

CITIZENS

The Conference, which was designed as the most 

ambitious exercise in involving citizens in the 

definition of future European policies, resulted in a 

series of proposals to strengthen the role of citizens in 

decision-making. It even proposed the establishment 

of a European Charter for citizen contribution to 

European affairs, based on its recommendations 

(proposal 36.11). In view of creating “a full civic 

experience” for Europeans, the Conference proposes 

three types of measures: for better involvement in 

the decision making and life of the institutions; for 

greater mobilisation; for institutions that are closer to 

the people. 

A first proposal is to give citizens a greater role in 

the choice of the President of the Commission, either 

through direct election or through the continuation of 

the system of lead candidates (spitzenkandidaten), 

whereby the candidate of the leading party in the 

elections is appointed by the European Council and 

then elected by the Parliament (proposal 38.4). 

Implemented in 2014 with the election of the European 

People's Party (EPP) candidate Jean-Claude Juncker, 

this system was challenged in 2019 by the European 

Council, which rejected Manfred Weber (DE, EPP) and 

proposed Ursula von der Leyen to the Parliament's 

vote. It is still a strong claim made by Parliament.

The Conference also proposes a direct vote by 

citizens in referendums to be held in the European 

Union, “to be triggered by the European Parliament, 

in exceptional cases on matters particularly important 

to all European citizens". (proposal 38.2). However, 

such referendums should only be held in “exceptional 

circumstances” due to their cost.

Upstream of the decision-making process, the 

Conference suggests, without going into detail, 

strengthening cooperation between legislators and 

civil society organisations (proposal 36.10). It also 

recommends the establishment of citizens' assemblies 

drawn by lot based on representativeness (proposal 

36.7). Established on a legally binding basis, they 

would be held every twelve to eighteen months 

with the participation of experts and could issue 

recommendations which the institutions would be 

obliged to follow, unless they could justify not doing so.

 

More generally, the Conference suggests that citizens' 

participation processes should take place in association 

with civil society organisations, regional and local 

authorities, and EU bodies such as the European 

Economic and Social Committee and the Committee 

of regions (proposal 36.5). It also suggests a “Youthcheck” of legislation if this is likely “to have an impact on them” (proposal 36.9), which would involve an impact assessment and a consultation mechanism 

[3] A text can only be adopted  in the Council if it gets the votes 

of at least 55% of the Member States (i.e. 15 out of 27),  representing at least 65% of the Union's population.

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Conference on the Future of Europe: the complex implementation of high ambitions with young people’s representatives. As with most 

of the proposals, few details are provided on the 

modalities of implementation or their content, which 

are more of a suggestion than a concrete proposal. 

In addition, the Conference suggests measures to 

strengthen the exercise of democracy at European 

level and to increase the mobilisation of citizens in 

European elections and, more broadly, in debates 

on the Union's policies. It believes that granting the 

right to vote at 16 years of age in European elections 

“should be discussed and considered” (proposal 47.2). 

The challenge lies in harmonising national legislation 

across the Union, since the voting age for European 

elections has already been lowered to 16 in Austria, 

Malta and Belgium, and to 17 in Greece.

The Conference would like to see "some MEPs elected 

through a European Union-wide list" (proposal 38.3). 

This proposal, which takes up long-standing discussions 

between European parties, is in the process of being 

integrated since the Parliament adopted on 3 May 

draft legislative act which provides for the election of 

28 MEPs in a new EU-wide constituency. The draft now 

has to be unanimously approved by the Council and 

then formally adopted by MEPs and Member States. A 

final set of proposals aims to help citizens to feel more 

European and to know the Union better. This would be 

based on the strengthening of 'Europe Houses' and 

other EU contact points at local level, or the creation 

of local EU advisors (proposal 36.6). As a continuation 

of the Conference's work, delegates suggested the 

creation of a "user-friendly digital platform" on which 

citizens could "share ideas, put forward questions to 

the representatives of EU institutions and express 

their views on important EU matters and legislative 

proposals". (proposal 36.3).

In a more original way, there is a proposal to create 

an EU fund that would encourage online and offline 

interaction, such as exchange programmes, panels or 

meetings, competitions, of varying duration between 

EU citizens (proposal 37.6). The proposal does not, 

however, specify the themes that could be covered 

by the fund.

MEASURES APPLICABLE TO THE TREATIES AS 

THEY STAND

In a first analysis in the conclusions of the Conference 

on 17 June, the European Commission divided 

measures that could be taken in response to the 

Conference into four categories: existing initiatives 

that take account of the proposals, such as the 

European climate law; those already proposed and 

currently being discussed by the Council and 

Parliament, such as the new migration pact; planned 

actions that may take account of the reflections of the 

Conference, such as legislation on media freedom; 

and new initiatives or areas of work inspired by the 

proposals, which fall within the competence of the 

Commission, such as mental health issues.

Many of the recommendations made by conference 

participants can be implemented without treaty reform. 

For example, many of the measures proposed to 

combat global warming and protect the environment, 

or concerning external policy, do not require treaty 

reform, but changes in policy line or the deepening 

of certain policies. “There is already a lot we can do 

without delay,” promised the Commission President 

on 9 May. However, this requires a shared political will 

between the Member States, the Commission and the 

Parliament. Some proposals which involve areas in 

which the treaties are vague could be implemented via 

the establishment of what can be called “constitutional 

convention” which would bring new practices into the 

political and institutional functioning of the Union. 

This is the case of the Spitzenkandidat system 

(proposal 38.4), which already stems from a wide 

interpretation of article 17.7 of the TEU. This could 

also be the case for a shift "towards voting for Unionwide lists, or ‘transnational lists’” (proposal 38.3), 

if candidates in the European elections campaigned 

more, or even exclusively based on their membership 

of a European party rather than a national party. 

The Conference's key proposal is that the general 

changeover to qualified majority voting in the Council 

can be carried out without opening a procedure for 

the revision of the Treaties. It is in fact possible 

through the so-called passerelle clauses provided for 

in article 48.7 TEU, which allows for the introduction

 

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Conference on the Future of Europe: the complex implementation of high ambitions of qualified majority voting "in a given area or case”. 

This procedure is not without its difficulties, however, 

as the abandonment of unanimity in the Council must 

be decided unanimously in the European Council and 

submitted to the national parliaments. In a resolution 

adopted on 9 June, the Parliament proposes to 

circumvent this obstacle by establishing the adoption 

of passerelle clauses by qualified majority instead of 

unanimity.

A NECESSARY REVISION OF THE TREATIES

In addition to the extension of the Union's 

competences in the fields of health, education and 

climate, a certain number of the measures proposed, 

particularly in the field of European democracy, 

require a revision of the treaties, the extent of 

which will depend on the political choices of Europe's 

leaders.

This applies to the establishment of a European 

referendum (proposal 38.2), the direct election of 

the President of the Commission, the granting of 

the right of legislative initiative to the Parliament 

(proposal 38.4); the revision of the mechanism for 

the examination of legislative proposals by national 

parliaments and the possibility for them to propose 

European legislative initiatives (proposal 40.2). The 

proposal (39.3) to rename the Commission as the 

"Executive Commission of the Union" and the Council 

as the "Senate of the Union" could not be done 

without changing the treaties.

Other proposals, imprecise as they stand, may also 

require a revision of the treaties depending on how 

they are implemented. This is true of the idea of 

"giving further consideration to common borrowing 

at EU level" (proposal 16. 5), if it means maintaining 

the achievements made in 2020 during the pandemic 

with the €750 billion European recovery plan. 

This is also true of proposal 23.1, which provides 

for "joint armed forces that shall be used for selfdefence purposes and preclude aggressive military action of any kind”. The longer-term objective of electing the Parliament from purely pan-European 

or transnational lists would require changes to 

the Treaty on European Union, which specifies the 

number of elected members per Member State.

REQUESTS BY PARLIAMENT

Although it concerns only a minority of the measures 

recommended by the Conference, the revision of the 

treaties is the most debated issue because it is the 

most cumbersome in institutional terms and the most 

perilous from a political standpoint. Traditionally in 

favour of developing the Union's primary law to further 

Community integration and strengthen the powers 

of the institutions, particularly its own, Parliament 

has already asked the European Council to initiate a 

revision procedure via the call for a convention.

The Convention, comprising representatives of 

the national parliaments, the Heads of State or 

Government of the Member States, the Parliament 

and the Commission, is provided for by article 48 TEU 

as part of the ordinary revision procedure. It examines 

draft amendments that aim to “to increase or reduce 

the competences conferred on the Union in the 

Treaties” and adopts by consensus a recommendation 

to a Conference of Representatives of the Member 

States. This conference must, in turn, agree on the 

amendments to the Treaties, which must then be 

ratified by all Member States.

Another procedure exists, called simplified revision, 

which only involves amendments to Part Three of the 

TFEU regarding “Union policies and internal actions” 

The European Council takes a unanimous decision 

which is then ratified by the Member States. This 

procedure may be necessary depending on the extent 

of the decisions taken to implement the Conference's 

recommendations, particularly in the fields of 

environment, energy, transport and economic and 

social policies.

In its resolution to the European Council, the 

Parliament lists the changes it would like to see 

introduced into the treaties, in addition to granting 

itself the right of initiative and full co-decision on the 

budget, it wants to “adapt” the Union’s competences, 

“especially in the areas of health and cross-border 

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Conference on the Future of Europe: the complex implementation of high ambitions

health threats, in the completion of the energy union 

based on energy efficiency and renewable energies 

(...), in defence and in social and economic policies”. 

It is calling for the European Social Rights Base to 

be “fully implemented” and for social progress to be 

integrated in article 9 TFEU which sets out the social 

requirements of the European Union. It proposes to 

introduce into the Treaties references to strengthening 

the Union's competitiveness and resilience, and 

to supporting investment in the "just, green and 

digital" transitions. It is calling for revised treaties to 

strengthen the procedure to protect the values of the 

European Union and to specify “the determination and 

consequences of breaches of fundamental values”.

RETICENT MEMBER STATES

The heads of the other two institutions have 

adopted a more cautious position. The President of 

the Commission, who will present her proposals in 

September at the State of the Union speech, has 

committed to follow up on the Conference's work 

"either by using the full limits of what we can do within 

the Treaties, or, yes, by changing the Treaties if need 

be", while recalling how her institution has responded 

to recent crises " with the powers that already exist". 

French President Emmanuel Macron, whose country 

is chairing the Council until 30 June, has said he 

supports the opening of a convention, while noting 

that it will be necessary to “define our objectives 

very clearly because you have to start a convention 

knowing where you are going”.

The revision of the treaties, whether ordinary or 

simplified, and the activation of the passerelle clauses, 

are only possible if the Member States in the Council 

and their respective parliaments are unanimous. 

However, thirteen Member States[4] have warned in 

a joint document, that they are against amendments 

that are “unconsidered and premature” which might 

“drawing political energy away” from real issues such 

as the quest for solutions in response to the citizens 

and the management of geopolitical challenges that 

Europe is now facing. Among these thirteen reluctant 

countries are the Czech Republic and Sweden, which 

will successively be presiding over the Council from 

1 July until 30 June 2023 and would, in this capacity, 

be responsible for leading the work on revising the 

treaties. Conversely, six Member States[5] have 

declared themselves "in principle open to necessary 

treaty changes that are jointly defined”.

The European Union could therefore move towards 

a targeted and strictly controlled revision of the 

treaties, while examining which features amongst 

the 326 measures that have been put forward can be 

implemented without engaging in lengthy institutional 

discussions. However, intense debate between the 

Member States and between the co-legislators, 

Council and Parliament can be expected regarding 

whether the treaty changes requested by each of 

them are indispensable.

MEETING EXPECTATIONS

Beyond the thorny question of the scope of the revision 

of the treaties, the institutions and the Member States 

should agree on a set of measures likely to fulfill a 

more or less significant part of the Conference's 

proposals. On the one hand, because the legitimacy 

of future decisions will be strengthened if they are 

based on the requests made by the citizens; on the 

other hand, because these requests largely converge 

with the plans of European leaders. A study by the 

Parliament's research department, estimates that 37 

of the 49 proposals converge partially or significantly 

with the priorities identified by the European Council. 

Convergence has increased significantly since the 

pandemic and the war in Ukraine has prompted the 

European Union to accelerate the dual transition from 

climate change to digital technology, while developing 

new strategies in the areas of health, industry and 

economic convergence.

The long-term outcome of the Conference will depend 

on the responses that are given and whether they are 

in line with the priorities expressed by the citizens. 

The war in Ukraine, started by Russia on 24 February 

2022, just as the last citizens' panel was finishing its 

work, has changed European citizens' perceptions. A 

Eurobarometer survey published on 15 June shows 

[4] Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech 

Republic, Denmark, Estonia, 

Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, 

Poland, Romania, Slovenia, 

Sweden.

[5] Germany, Belgium, Spain, 

Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands.

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Conference on the Future of Europe: the complex implementation of high ambitions

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that defence and security have become the main 

priority in 2022 for 34% of respondents, although 

the issue is not well developed in the Conference 

conclusions. But the following priorities, the EU's 

autonomy in energy supply (26%), managing the 

economic situation (24%), environment and climate 

change (22%) and unemployment (21%), are widely 

expressed in the Conference proposals.

In its analysis on 17 June, the Commission warns 

against any type of “re-interpretation or selection” of 

the proposed measures but does not commit itself to 

the direction to be taken. To ensure continued support 

from citizens, it plans a "conference feedback event" 

in the autumn. This gives Member States time to 

consider what new features they would be prepared 

to accept.

Eric Maurice