The Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) will be the great event of the next nine months in the European Union (EU), in an exercise of the European institutions to try to bring the EU closer to citizens, and listen to the voice of citizens and organized civil society about what European Union we want in the future.

Just over three years ago, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, made the proposal to hold a large consultation with European citizens and civil society, a proposal that was later picked up by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in his opening speech on July 16, 2019. Then, Von der Leyen proposed the Conferences on the Future of Europe as an exercise in debate between citizens and civil society, with a strong participation of young people, on an equal footing with the institutions on the future of the European Union. The CoFoE, however, did not start until two years later, on May 9, 2021, a year late due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Despite the initial commitment, in the Interinstitutional Declaration of March 10, 2021, and in the Conference Rules of Procedure, published on May 26, 2021, the Commission President’s proposal for a large youth participation was distorted. The presence of young people at the Conference, which although it is true will be a third of the citizens chosen by lottery, will be a minority in the Conference Plenaries, where there will be less than 30 participants under 25 years of age, out of a total of 433. Even if we have young people under 30 years of age – despite the fact that in the Conference only those under 25 have been named as such, unlike in European programs such as Erasmus + or the European Solidarity Corps that place the barrier in the 30 years – they will not reach 40. That is,

For this reason, and with the aim of actively participating in the Conference on the Future of Europe, the Youth members of the Spanish Federal Council of the European Movement (CFEME), between 18 and 30 years old and from practically all the Autonomous Communities , we have been working, since September 2020, through the European Youth Forum that we organize internally, the different topics that will be discussed at the Conference. Thus, we have prepared a total of 156 proposals that are included in this memorandum and that are included in the following topics:

1. Fight against climate change and the Green Pact;
2. European Health Union;
3. An economy for people: social justice and employment;
4. A stronger European Union in the world;
5. European way of life (EU values ​​and rights and the rule of law);
6. Agenda and digital transformation;
7. European democracy;
8. Migration and asylum;
9. Education, culture, youth and sport.
10. Other ideas.

Thus, the memorandum reflects the more than seven months of debate and work within the CFEME Youth, with proposals to achieve a more resilient European Union, with competencies that allow it to face future and present challenges such as new health pandemics or migratory crisis; more sustainable, consolidating the initiatives of the European Green Deal initiated by the European Commission and transforming European cities into true green cities; more digital, both by the digitization of the population and the use of technology to combat, for example, depopulation, as well as by protecting the population from the dangers of the digital world; more social, with the inclusion and guarantee of the European Social Pillar as well as better employment policies, especially for the youth; strongest in the world, with greater capacity for action and more powers, also in defense matters, and; closer to citizens, civil society and, especially, the young generation, guaranteeing respect for the rule of law, introducing transnational lists for elections to the European Parliament, or increasing the knowledge and feeling of belonging to the European Union to through education, culture and sport.

While it is true that this memorandum may seem ambitious, it reflects once again what the Eurobarometers already show, also in its last edition in spring 2021: youth demand more European Union. This necessarily entails the transfer of greater powers to the EU and the deepening of the European project, even with a reform of the Treaties after the Conference if necessary.

Taking into account the words of the current President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, on the CoFoE, this memorandum has no “taboos” and, therefore, raises ambitious proposals such as the replacement of unanimity by qualified majority in decision-making in the Council in matters of Foreign Policy, the creation of the European Health Union with European competences, a Common Policy on Migration and Asylum, or greater European taxation, among many others.

See here for the original post as well as the memorandum.