Conference on the Future of Europe: European Citizens’ Panels set to start

The first sessions of all four Panels will take place on Parliament’s premises in Strasbourg and begin working on draft recommendations within each Panel’s remit. This first European Citizens’ Panel will focus on a stronger economy, social justice, jobs/education, youth, culture, and sport/digital transformation, based on citizens’ contributions collected from across Europe on the Multilingual Digital Platform, as well as support and presentations from prominent academics.

Over the weekend, in addition to media opportunities to interview citizens who have given their consent, journalists will be briefed on the practical aspects of the Panels, from the citizen selection process to the operational part of their organisation and the role of facilitators and experts.

Each European Citizens’ Panel will establish its working methods, select the 20 citizens per Panel who will participate in the Conference Plenary, and confirm the composition of its working groups. Citizens have been chosen randomly by specialist contractors on behalf of the EU institutions, using methodologies that ensure that they are representative of the EU’s diversity in terms of geographic origin, gender, age, socioeconomic background and level of education. Young people between 16 and 25 make up one-third of each panel. These citizens will come up with ideas and recommendations that will feed into the overall Conference deliberations, in particular into the Conference Plenaries, and ultimately into the report on its final outcome.

When: Friday 17 September 2021 (early PM, CEST) to Sunday 19 September 2021 (early PM, CEST)

Where: European Parliament in Strasbourg

Further information, including technical details for audiovisual media will be communicated soon.

Background

The European Citizens’ Panels are a a central feature of the Conference organised by the European Parliament, Council and Commission. The topics for discussion for each of the Panels are:

(1) Stronger economy, social justice, jobs/education, youth, culture, sport/digital transformation(first meeting: 17-19 September);

(2) European democracy/values and rights, rule of law, security (first meeting: 24-26 September)

(3) Climate change, environment/health (first meeting: 1-3 October);

(4) EU in the world/migration (first meeting: 15-17 October).

The second set of sessions will be held in remote format throughout November, while the third and final sessions will take place in December 2021 and January 2022 at the following educational institutions:

(1) in Dublin, Ireland – Institute of International and European Affairs and partners;

(2) in Florence, Italy – European University Institute;

(3) in Natolin (Warsaw), Poland – College of Europe; and

(4) in Maastricht, the Netherlands – European Institute for Public Administration and partners.

Additional information on the European Citizens’ Panels is available here, while the provisional calendar of the Conference is available here.

Accreditation

Annual press badges (either inter-institutional badges or EP badges) are valid.

Journalists without an access badge need to request accreditation before 17 September (18.00) via the journalist registration website.

COVID-19 prevention measures

Journalists can attend, provided they strictly follow the health restrictions and measures put in place by the French authorities and the European Parliament. Any media physically present at the event are requested to respect social distancing of 1.5 m while on EP premises and to wear a medical face mask at all times. Entrance to Parliament wearing so-called ‘community masks’ or other masks made of textiles will not be allowed.

For any questions linked to the programme or the facilities, please contact the EP audio-visual press team or planning service: