The collective efforts of civil society organisations over the past year have paid off and the Conference on the Future of Europe has managed to deliver meaningful results on issues that concern Europeans. With this message EESC President Christa Schweng welcomed Dubravka Šuica, European Commission Vice-President for Democracy and Demography, to the EESC plenary session on 15 June 2022.

"Forty-nine proposals were adopted, based on citizens' recommendations and after contributions from all stakeholders. They include many forward-looking objectives, such as explicitly empowering the EESC as a facilitator and guarantor of participatory democracy activities," said Ms Schweng.

She added that the challenge was now two-fold: to find the best possible way to support structured dialogue with civil society organisations and to follow up on the Conference, ensuring feedback is thorough, simple, transparent and in the form of an online dashboard and public screening.

Ms Šuica highlighted that "the Committee is an essential part of the democratic ecosystem, it reinforces trust and reduces the gap between citizens and institutions. It is now vital that we provide Europeans with feedback from this unique democratic exercise. The Commission will always be on the side of those who want to reform the EU to make it work better. However, treaty change should not be an end in itself; there is much that can and will need to be done under the existing treaties."

Announcing the follow-up conference, which would take place in the autumn of 2022, she said that "the event will put a seal of legitimacy on the entire process because democracy is precious and we can never take it for granted, as the tragic events in Ukraine are reminding us. Our focus must be to continue developing democracy and we are now making our democracy fit for the future." (mp)