The Executive Board of the Conference on the Future of Europe, comprising representatives from the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission, is launching the multilingual digital platform for the Conference on the Future of Europe inviting all EU citizens to contribute to shaping their own future and that of Europe as a whole. The platform is available in 24 languages, allowing citizens from across the Union to share and exchange their ideas and views through online events.
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What is the purpose of the multilingual digital platform?
The platform is the central hub of this democratic exercise, enabling citizens to take the lead, in a debate on the topics that matter to them, in their everyday lives.
The digital platform gathers, in one place, all contributions from citizens whether shared online or at events. Input from all Conference events will be collected and published throughout the Conference, via the platform.
The aim is to maximise participation, foster discussion between citizens, and ensure both the accessibility and transparency of the Conference.
This will be a place for citizens across the EU to interact with one another, share their ideas and send online submissions. The platform is both a means to collect contributions and to inform citizens on the state of the discussions and their follow-up.
The platform is open to all EU citizens, as well as to Parliaments, local authorities, EU institutions and bodies and civil society, as long as they respect the Charter on the Conference. As diverse a group of people as possible, and as many as possible are encouraged to take part.
How will the platform work?
The platform offers three main ways to interact: people can express their views on Europe and the changes they believe are needed – or endorse and commenting on what other Europeans have to say; they can find events to attend near them or online; or organise their own events and contribute to the progress and the outcome of the Conference.
To have their say, users choose from a list of topics and let the EU know their opinion via the platform. These ideas will be collected, analysed and published on the platform throughout the Conference. They will then feed into the discussions taking place in European citizens’ panels and the Conference Plenaries.
Platform users can access a map of all upcoming events and filter via topic/location/type e.g. in person, online, hybrid, before registering to take part. To upload a planned event, event organisers describe and publish their initiative on the platform, for others to find and attend. Event organisers commit to uploading the outcomes of their event’s discussions, to ensure all ideas are reflected on the platform.
A feedback mechanism will ensure that the ideas expressed during the Conference feed into the EU’s strategic planning and result in concrete recommendations for EU action.
Can regional authorities, national parliaments, governments or EU institutions upload their events to the platform?
Events organised in partnership with national and regional Parliaments will help ensure that the Conference goes far beyond Europe’s capital cities and reaches every corner of the Union.
The platform will gather all information from these ‘national events’ and the issues raised by citizens there.
National events organised by the Parliaments, governments and EU institutions will be clearly indicated with a separate colour code on the map of events.
What follow-up will there be from all the events and ideas reported on the platform?
The platform will collect all the ideas coming directly from the citizens and those coming from the events. All Conference events must be reported on the platform in the form of a report linked to concrete proposals or ideas. Using a combination digital tools and human moderation, the Platform will generate reports on the input, analysing frequency, popularity and prominence of the various issues raised.
These reports will feed into the European citizens’ panels and the Conference Plenaries. This information will of course also be visible on the Platform itself, and will therefore be available to whoever interacts with the Platform.
The outcome of the Conference will be presented by the Executive Board to the Presidents of the European Parliament, Council and European Commission. The three Institutions will examine swiftly how to follow up effectively on this report, each within their own sphere of competence and in accordance with the Treaties.
How will the platform be moderated?
The multilingual digital platform, and all Conference-related events, commit to putting citizens at the centre, and allowing them to express their voice freely.
On the platform, anyone can browse the ideas submitted and event outcomes on the platform. In order to be able to contribute, you need to create an EU login account and register or log in via social media. There will be a team of moderators on hand to quickly flag and resolve problems. This moderation will be both proactive and reactive, and will be under the supervision of the Conference Secretariat acting on behalf of the Executive Board.
Why is the platform structured around specific topics and not others?
Citizens will be free to raise any topic of concern to them, via an ‘open box’ on the multilingual digital platform, for cross-cutting ideas or topics other than those listed on the platform.
In order to structure contributions to the platform, a list of topics has been selected, in line with the EU’s headline ambitions, as set out in the Commission’s Political Priorities and the European Council’s Strategic Agenda, which provide a sufficiently broad framework to allow citizens to focus on what they consider important.
These topics were set out and agreed in the Joint Declaration on the Conference, signed by the Presidents of the three institutions leading this endeavour, on 10 March 2021. They include climate change and the environment; health; a stronger economy, social justice and jobs; EU in the world; values and rights, rule of law, security; digital transformation; European democracy; migration; and education, culture, youth and sport.
Does the digital platform accept contributions in languages other than the 24 official EU languages?
The platform will be available in all 24 official EU languages, and all content will be translated between all languages so that every user can read ideas from across the EU. Translations for non-official EU languages (e.g. Catalan or Luxembourgish) can be made available on the platform if provided and financed by the Member State concerned.
How will you ensure the widest number of citizens use the platform?
Ensuring the Conference reaches wide and far is one of the most important markers of success. All Europeans should be given an equal opportunity to engage, whether young or old, whether living in urban or rural areas, whether knowledgeable about the EU or not.
The multilingual platform is especially useful in COVID-19 times to enable citizens to interact with each other and the Conference online, while the European citizens’ panels are important levers to ensure that people from all walks of life can actively contribute to the Conference.
The Conference should reach beyond those citizens who are in favour of the EU, or those who participate regularly in discussions on European politics. It aims to reach the ‘silent majority’, who are not vocal in EU debates, or only at times of elections. Diversity of participants in the EU-level citizens’ panels will be an important way to go beyond the circle of people, who are already involved in debates on the European Union.
How long will the platform be available?
The Conference should reach conclusions by Spring 2022, so as to provide recommendations and guidance to the three institutions on the future of Europe.
What happens now?
Following the launch of the platform on 19 April, citizens can start to contribute their ideas and events can take place.
An inaugural event will be organised on 9 May in Strasbourg either partially or fully online – depending on COVID-19 restrictions and public health regulations.
Source: European Commission
