No more veto in foreign policy and take migration decisions together. The fate of these recommendations from the citizens’ panels in Maastricht will be decided on Friday and Saturday in the Conference on the Future of Europe.
The Limburg MEPs Vera Tax, Jeroen Lenaers and Esther de Lange are among the select group that is negotiating in Strasbourg about which tips from the citizens should be adopted. Although the Maastricht recommendations seemed very ambitious, the recommendations are overtaken by current events. Due to corona and the war in Ukraine, Europe is making great strides towards greater integration. The Zeitenwende what the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke about also translates in Brussels.
Also read: Solid Maastricht citizen tips challenge for the European Union
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The Conference on the Future of Europe was born from the ambition to involve citizens more in European decision-making. In this way, Brussels is in line with successful initiatives in Ireland or Brazil, as David van Reybrouck explained in the podcast by the Maastricht based Studio Europa. The fact that there is great uncertainty about what will happen to the recommendations of the ‘ordinary people’ remains the Achilles heel of the ambitious project.
Outcomes
In Strasbourg, 108 citizens have to compete on Friday and Saturday against a whole mosaic of vested interests. There are also 108 MEPs present, plus a strong representation of the European Commission and Council. In addition, representatives of the 27 national parliaments and representatives of civil society organizations participate in the discussion. Early on, this led to criticism that citizens’ advice would only be adopted if they fit in with existing European plans.
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The Venlo MEP Vera Tax recognizes the pain points in the entire process, but mainly wants to highlight the positive aspects. “The Conference is a great way to involve Europeans in our common future. But we need to think about the form. The aim is to collect recommendations from EU citizens. I would prefer that only at a later stage by the institutions is co-authored with the recommendations.”
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The initiative of the conference came at a time when Europe did not yet know a corona or Ukraine war. It was precisely these crises that confronted Europe with limitations in an independent policy. Health and foreign policy decisions are largely made in the Member States. Due to the urgency of both corona and the Ukraine war, the demand for an answer from Brussels grew. That process ran parallel to the consultation of citizens in the “citizens dialogues”. As a result, the Maastricht recommendations in particular became extremely topical. The advice on migration came the same month that Ukrainian refugees arrived at the Polish border. The Maastricht plea for an end to the veto in foreign policy ran parallel with the great pressure for a joint position on Russia.
The cabinet has the #StateoftheUnion presented. The Netherlands wants a more decisive, economically stronger, greener and safer EU, and wants to play a leading role in this. 1/2 https://t.co/hN9Bl2DZyk
— Wopke Hoekstra (@WBHoekstra) Apr 29, 2022
corner street
The Netherlands was already anticipating the results of the Conference by presenting a vision on Europe on the eve of the conference. Wopke Hoekstra, Minister of Foreign Affairs, will explain this European perspective on 9 May in the Maastricht Music Foundry.
The Conference on the Future of Europe is here to follow live.