A rocky road to reform: The promises of the Conference on The Future of Europe: facilitating concrete output and follow-up from the Conference

• Johannes Greubel ^[1]
  1. [1] European Policy Centre
• Localización: Future Europe Journal, ISSN-e 2790-3354, ISSN 2790-3346, Nº. 1, 2021 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Europe's window of opportunity: why the UE needs to reform after the Conference)
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • As per Joint Declaration, the Conference on the Future of Europe will end with a report to the Joint Presidency in spring 2022. All institutions and member states have pledged to follow up with the report swiftly and effectively. Despite agreeing on the Declaration and the Conference Rules of Procedure, however, the institutions and member states continue to have very different ambitions and expectations for the Conference and its desired outcome. Hence, there are doubts as to how comprehensive its results can be under the agreed process and how consequently they will be followed up after the Conference’s end.

    This paper analyses the chances and obstacles for the Conference to lead to concrete reform – and propose concrete solutions to ensure the promised outcome. By analysing lessons learned from previous experiences of citizens’ participation, the Conference’s setup as well as the political environment, the author identifies crucial roadblocks that need to be solved for a successful outcome and draws up the necessary next steps that should follow the Conference to translate its promise of a swift and effective follow up into reality.