The last remaining set of recommendations from the four European Citizens’ Panels of the Conference on the Future of Europe were delivered on Sunday. The Panel on ‘A stronger economy, social justice and jobs / Education, culture, youth and sport / Digital transformation’ held its third and final meeting at Dublin Castle on 25-27 February, hosted by the Institute for International and European Affairs (IIEA). There, around 200 European citizens adopted 48 recommendations, building on their previous work done in Strasbourg in September and online in November, across five work streams: Working in Europe, An Economy for the Future, A Just Society, Learning in Europe, and An Ethical and Safe Digital Transformation.
The participants also expressed their solidarity with the citizens of Ukraine on several occasions through their interventions at the weekend and during the ‘family photo’.
Watch recordings of the Panel’s plenary meetings from Friday and Sunday.
Next steps
Eighty Panel representatives (20 from each of the four Panels, of which at least one-third is aged between 16 and 25 years) have been tasked with representing the Panels at the Conference Plenary, where the Conference’s final proposals will be shaped.
All four Panels have now finalised their recommendations. The three preceding ones were:
The first two sets were debated at the Conference Plenary of 21-22 January, whereas the other two are expected to be debated in Strasbourg on 11-12 March. The Plenary’s final proposals will be presented to the Executive Board of the Conference in the spring.
Background
The four European Citizens’ Panels take into account citizens’ contributions collected from across Europe via the multilingual digital platform and events held across the Member States. The work of the Panels is also supported by presentations from prominent academics and other experts. Panellists were randomly selected by specialist contractors, who ensured that they reflected the EU’s diversity in terms of geographic origin, gender, age, socioeconomic background and level of education.
EU citizens’ contributions to the Conference, submitted via the multilingual digital platform by 20 February, will be included in a final report on 17 March. However, the possibility to submit contributions on the platform remains open, to allow debate to continue online, and that contributions introduced after 20 February may be covered by a final report after 9 May.
