News > EM Finland: The European Union seeks its direction at the European Future Conference – will citizens be involved?

EM Finland: The European Union seeks its direction at the European Future Conference – will citizens be involved?

With the launch of the online platform of the European Future Conference yesterday 19 April, the European Union will soon begin to chart its course in a changing world. Increasing competition between the superpowers, the interest rate pandemic and the tussle within the Union – the latest example being the debate on the debt union – have all contributed to underlining the need to reflect on the future of Europe.

However, the underlying idea of the Future Conference is to mobilise citizens to share their vision of the future of Europe and thus ensure the viability and continuity of European democracy. EU leaders have therefore invited citizens to contribute to building the future of Europe by sharing their vision of the direction the Union should take. Making citizens’ voices heard at European level is crucial, as the EU’s perennial bugbear has been its remoteness for a large majority of citizens.

This is a topical issue, as according to the Eurobarometer for the Future – a special version of Eurobarometer that focuses on citizens’ views on Europe and its future – published in March, 92% of Europeans said that citizens’ opinions and voices should be taken more into account in matters concerning the future of Europe. Finland was among the top Member States with this opinion: 96% of Finns interviewed in the barometer wanted citizens’ voices to be heard more in matters concerning the future of Europe.

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At its best, the conference will force decision-makers to think about how to solve the problem of active citizenship and get citizens more actively involved in decision-making. Optimally, the European Future Conference can bring the European Union closer to citizens, and thus mobilise them to use their voice on European issues – in the European elections and beyond. However, it is not enough to simply ask citizens to get involved, but to offer them concrete channels to participate in the decision-making process. So let’s hope that citizens will take a cue from the online platform of the Future Conference and share their ideas there, shaping the future of Europe.