The Conference on the Future of Europe is a unique and timely opportunity for European citizens to shape the future of the EU. Structured as a transnational and multilingual exercise in deliberative democracy, the campaign aims at engaging with European citizens, especially young individuals, to draw inspiration from the bottom up on where Europe should be headed.
A central feature of the Conference will be the four “European Citizens’ Panels”, organised by the Common Secretariat of the Conference under the guidance of the Executive Board, which includes representatives from the European Parliament, European Commission, and Council of the EU. The panels will bring together a representative sample of 800 citizens from across the continent to discuss challenges and priorities for the EU. From September 2021 to January 2022, the panels, each comprising 200 citizens, will deliberate on themes ranging from social justice and digital transformation, to European democracy and values, migration, climate change and the environment.
The EUI is honoured to have been chosen as one of only four institutions across Europe to host a European Citizen Panel. We look forward to welcoming 200 citizens to our campus on 10-12 December 2021 for the third session of the panel on “Democracy, Values, Human Rights, Rule of Law, and Security.”
During the session, participants will gather in 15 sub-groups to discuss topical issues such as protecting democracy and the rule of law, European values and identity, non-discrimination, decision-making, and the impact of media freedom and disinformation on them. Nine members of our faculty will serve as Experts in the sub-groups, assisting the citizens in their deliberations by providing factual evidence and objective information. Moreover, fifteen EUI PhD Researchers will be acting as Note-takers and two Fellows will act as Fact-checkers.
We are delighted to take an active part in this unprecedented exercise of civic engagement. The choice is a recognition of the EUI’s central role as a space for confrontation, deliberation, and dialogue that has consistently supplied concrete policy ideas on the future of Europe.
In preparation for the Conference, the EUI is contributing to the wider conversation with a social media campaign, highlighting and sharing meaningful research publications by our academic community in relation to the various themes of the Conference.