The moment we’ve all been waiting for is upon us. The Conference on the Future of Europe is supposed to officially start on Europe Day, 09 May 2021. What started as an idea and then was signed as a joint declaration on 10 March 2021 by the President of the European Commission, the President of the European Parliament and the Portuguese Prime Minister (on behalf of the Council of the EU) is becoming reality. Europeans now have the chance to play a bigger role in setting the future EU agenda for policies and hopefully its ambitions as well. This 2-year exercise in deliberative democracy should give people from all walks of life the chance to talk about what they expect from the EU in the actual events and through the dedicated multilingual digital platform.

As the EU needs to make this conference count and it needs to involve its citizens in developing the next set of substantial reforms, the question is whether this can truly be achieved. The world has changed since the Lisbon Treaty came into force, and the requirements for EU competences should stay in tune with these changes. The Conference on the Future of Europe needs to have clarity about its structure and its leaders need to listen to all EU citizens and propose the substantial reforms that the EU needs in order for it to tackle the challenges of the 21st century. As events unfold, ELF is offering an open space to assess new developments and keep the discussion going.

Speakers will be announced shortly.