The Conference on the Future of Europe has completed its work and ended with the closing ceremony on ninth of May 2022 in Strasbourg. The conference was a year-long participatory process for citizens that started in spring 2021. All Europeans were invited to express their opinions and ideas on the future of Europe and the European Union.

The aimed conference is to involve as many people as possible in order to develop solutions for current and future challenges and to strengthen the European integration. Conclusions and guidelines were drawn up from the ideas and proposals and recorded in the final report of the conference. This report includes 49 proposals and 326 individual actions on topics such as climate change, environment, health, democracy in Europe, the EU in the world, digital transformation and others. The proposals include both concrete targets and measures for implementation by the EU institutions. The three EU institutions will examine, within the framework of their competences and in accordance with the Treaties, how effective action can be taken. One example for that is the further development of EU legislation.

Where do we go from here?

In State of the Union address on 14 September 2022, Commission President von der Leyen stressed the importance of citizen participation in general and the Future of Europe Conference in particular. The Commission's work programme for 2023 is largely based on the results of the conference. This includes, for example, a new initiative on mental health. Other initiatives planned by the Commission for 2023 are listed in the Memorandum of Understanding which is signed by the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola and Prime Minister Petr Fiala. Initiatives arising directly from the Future of Europe Conference are explicitly marked.

To the Declaration of Intent

https://state-of-the-union.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2022-09/SOTEU_2022_Letter_of_Intent_EN_0.pdf

https://state-of-the-union.ec.europa.eu/index_de

Further information

"The European Green Deal is our new growth strategy. It will allow us to cut emissions and create jobs at the same time."
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission