The citizens’ summit in Maastricht experienced its baptism of fire on Friday. More than 200 people participated in the discussion about the new direction of the European Union.
The sigh of relief from the MECC conference center could be heard all the way into the provincial government. The prestigious citizens’ summit was originally supposed to be held in January, but had to be postponed due to the corona measures. There was a threat of adjustment, but due to the relaxation, we just managed to organize the citizens’ consultation.
Maastricht Treaty
The big advantage is that the citizens’ summit takes place in exactly the same week as the 30th anniversary of the Maastricht Treaty. “It’s pure coincidence, but that’s what makes it wonderful to be here in the heart of Europe right now,” said Dubravka Šuica, European Commissioner for Democracy.
Also read: European citizens’ summit Maastricht is postponed
Conference future Europe
The citizens’ summit is organized in the context of the conference on the future of Europe. That discussion is desperately neededsaid Jean-Claude Juncker, previously president of the European Commission and signatory of the Maastricht Treaty on behalf of Luxembourg.
After much haggling about procedures, it was decided to let citizens participate in the discussion in Florence, Warsaw, Dublin and Maastricht. In the Limburg capital, the topics of migration and abroad are on the agenda this weekend. Citizens’ recommendations will be included in a consultation in Strasbourg later this year.
Also read: Maastricht gets citizens’ summit on the future of Europe
‘Too good to be true’
The participants in the citizens’ meeting came from all over Europe. Six Dutch people also spoke in the MECC, sometimes to their own surprise. To get an accurate cross-section of the population, the groups were carefully composed. “I received a call from a marketing agency, it sounded too good to be true,” said Hub Verhoeven, a student from Arnhem.
European migration
“They actually called my sister and she passed on my name,” said Jakob de Vries from Krimpen aan den IJssel. De Vries works in a burns center and therefore has a valuable perspective on the subject of migration.
“When you talk to people about migration, they are almost always about refugees. But I have seen that European migration is also important. In the burn center we sometimes receive people from Romania or Bulgaria. I hear from those people that they starving wages here, without social benefits. They accept it themselves, but I call it modern slavery myself. I did introduce that here in the migration discussion.”
More than 200 Europeans are in #Maastricht to participate in the EU Citizens’ Panel for the @CoFoEU conference on the future of Europe. A beautiful moment, 30 years after the signing of the Maastricht Treaty. I would like to welcome all participants to the Netherlands!
— Wopke Hoekstra (@WBHoekstra) February 11, 2022
Skepticism about results
“It is a unique experiment, which has not yet been performed anywhere in the world,” said Šuica. “We are trying to enrich representative democracy with citizen panels.” That laudable initiative threatened to evaporate last year in disagreements over the procedures.
A delegation of citizens from the citizens’ panels has to meet in Strasbourg with 108 deputies from national parliaments, 108 MEPs, 54 members of governments, three members of the European Commission and representatives of interest groups and trade unions. “Wonderful, those citizens who participate in the discussion, but will something change? What power does the conference club have? Then you quickly become a bit cynical and you wonder whether you should pay attention to it,” said NOS correspondent Sander van Hoorn. in Evening Guests Europe.
Nice start
After all the uncertainty, satisfaction prevailed in the MECC after the first day. “The collaboration is going very well, the historical perspective is beautiful”, concluded Gonny Willems, director of the organizing Studio Europa. “That is also nice for the citizens. We say jokingly Europe is coming home† If you look around and you hear all the languages, it all comes together nicely thirty years later.”
“In fact, the European Union is being redesigned here in Maastricht”, deputy Maarten van Gaans (D66) concluded. “But not by great leaders like Kohl, Mitterrand, Lubbers and Delors, but by our European citizens.”