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: Sabrina Lupi; Uncategorised; 12 Aprile 2021

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15-16 aprile 2021, Solidarity: the quest for founding utopias of international law (University of Catania)
15 aprile 2021, ore 17:00, webinar Il dialogo delle giurisdizioni nazionali con la Corte di giustizia dell’UE nella procedura di “rinvio pregiudiziale” (Seminario Permanente di Studi Internazionali)
22 aprile – 13 maggio – 18 giugno, ore 17:00-19.00, Conferenza online La nomofilachia nelle Alte Corti (Università LUISS)

: Sabrina Lupi; Uncategorised; 12 Aprile 2021

Flash report of the second meeting of the Executive Board of the Conference on the Future of Europe
7 April 2021, 17.00-20.00 – Brussels (European Parliament – Spinelli Building/Hybrid)

Participants:

Co-chairs of the Executive Board: MEP Guy Verhofstadt (RENEW/BE), Portuguese Secretary of State for EU Affairs Ana Paula Zacarias and Vice-President Dubravka Šuica

Representatives of the Executive Board: MEP Manfred Weber (EPP/DE), MEP Iratxe García Pérez (S&D/ES), Slovenian Secretary of State for EU Affairs Gasper Dovzan, French Minister of State for EU Affairs Clément Beaune (excused), Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič and Vice-President Věra Jourová

Observers: MEP Gerolf Annemans (ID/BE), MEP Daniel Freund (Greens/EFA/DE), MEP Zdzisław Krasnodębski (ECR/PL) and MEP Helmut Scholz (The Left/DE), Czech State Secretary for EU Affairs Milena Hrdinková, Swedish Minister for EU Affairs Hans Dahlgren, Spanish Secretary of State for the EU Juan González-Barba Pera, Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès (excused)

COSAC observers: COSAC represented by the chairman of the Committee on European Union questions of the German Bundesrat, Guido Wolf, the chairman of the Committee on European Affairs of the German Bundestag, Gunther Krichbaum, the chairman of the Committee on European Affairs of the Portuguese Assembleia da Republica, Luís Capoulas Santos, the chairman of the Committee on European Affairs of the Slovenian Državni zbor, Marko Pogačnik and the chairman of the Committee on European Affairs of the Slovenian Državni svet Bojan Kekec

Invited observers: Committee of the Regions (represented by President Apostolos Tzitzikostas), the European Economic and Social Committee (represented by President Christa Schweng) and ETUC (represented by Secretary General Luca Visentini)

Representatives of the Common Secretariat and DG COMM

Summary:

The Executive Board of the Conference on the Future of Europe held its second meeting on 7 April 2021 in the European Parliament (in hybrid format). The meeting took place in a spirit of good will and cooperation and was co-chaired by MEP Guy Verhofstadt, Secretary of State for EU Affairs Ana Paula Zacarias and Vice-President Dubravka Šuica. The Board agreed on the launch of the Multilingual Digital Platform on 19 April 2021 and the Charter, after some adjustments to the topics for discussion in the Platform. The launch will allow the discussions to start and citizens to have a say. The Executive Board also agreed on its own Working Methods. An exchange of views took place on the rules of procedure of the Conference overall based on a draft presented by Mr Verhofstadt that had not been agreed with the co-chairs. Written comments were invited and the Common Secretariat will work on a draft for the co-chairs to present jointly for the next meeting of the Board. In the first exchange, in particular questions on composition of the panels and the plenary were raised. The Executive Board also had a brief exchange about the launch event planned for 9 May in Strasbourg, agreeing that a large-scale physical event was not feasible at this point. The Communications services of the three institutions will come forward with ideas, which will be presented in the next meeting. The next meeting of the Executive Board is planned for 21 or 22 April 2021.

Details:

The Board endorsed the launch of the Multilingual Digital Platform on 19 April, thus allowing citizens discussions to start. Following exchanges in the first Board meeting on 24 March 2021, the topics on the Platform were adapted. ‘Migration’ and ‘Education, culture, youth and sport’ were added as new topics, bringing the list to 10 topics, and other topics were adjusted to explicitly also refer to the rule of law and security, as well as social justice and jobs. Commission representatives provided further explanations on the Platform and its functionalities, in particular in relation to moderation, the analysis and the link between the different strands of the Conference. The Board also endorsed the Charter, which citizens must commit to when using the Platform and which includes the principles enshrined in the EU Treaties and in the Joint Declaration.

The Board equally endorsed its own Working Methods. Discussions leading up to that focussed in particular on the role of the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions as well as social partners and their wish to become permanent observers. Co-chairs confirmed their intention to in principle invite these observers as done so far, but also that the Working Methods cannot go beyond the Joint Declaration. Participants then had a first exchange on the broader rules of procedure of the Conference, based on suggestions by Mr Verhofstadt, which had not been agreed with co-chairs yet. Comments related in particular to the role of citizens and the composition of the plenary and the panels. Both other co-chairs underlined that this was not a joint proposal and that work has to continue. Written comments were invited and the Common Secretariat will prepare a draft text for the co-chairs to submit to the next meeting of the Executive Board.

The Board finally discussed the launch event on 9 May 2021. Participants agreed that a large-scale event with physical participation was not possible at this point, but that a hybrid event should be organised in Strasbourg of about 2 hour length that is attractive to citizens. The Communication Services of the three institutions will work on details and a presentation will be made in the next Board meeting.

The next meeting of the Executive Board is planned for 21 or 22 April 2021.

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