On Wednesday, the European Commission presented its own ideas for a two-year conference on modernization and reform within the European Union. The Commission does not expect comprehensive treaty changes or drastic structural adjustments from it.
The European Commission hopes to launch the conference on May 9, exactly seventy years after the Schuman Declaration, which marked the beginning of European integration.
Last week, the European Parliament already established that this conference should primarily 'listen to the European citizens.' The governments of the EU countries will present their own vision of the future of the EU next week. Afterwards, the three institutions must come to an agreement on the objectives, scope, and organization of the conference, which is expected to take about two years.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promised a conference on further democratization of the European Union last summer. The conference is more or less a response to long-smoldering dissatisfaction with the functioning of EU institutions. Shortly after his inauguration a few years ago, the young liberal French President Macron enthusiastically advocated for some far-reaching reforms and innovations, which at the time were politely set aside by many other European government leaders.
David Sassoli, President of the European Parliament, spoke of a “cornerstone to build the new Europe.” According to him, the crises of the past ten years, such as Brexit, have revealed the limitations of the current governance model. He concluded that the EU must be more democratic, transparent, and effective, with broad participation from European citizens.
The increasing anti-European sentiment in the United Kingdom during the Brexit process, and the growing nationalist tendencies in some Eastern European countries, made it increasingly clear that adjustments in procedures and rules were necessary. In addition, last May, shortly after the European elections, government leaders and heads of state abruptly sidelined the European Parliament’s 'spitzenkandidaten' for high EU positions.
This revived the decades-old 'power struggle' between the EU countries and the European Parliament over who ultimately has control over the executive body of the European Commission. Moreover, some fear that the EU is quietly pursuing more federalism and additional new tasks and powers.
Dutch Member of the European Parliament Peter van Dalen (Christian Union) already expressed skepticism. According to him, few are learning lessons from the dissatisfaction that ultimately led to Brexit. The European Conservatives and Reformists intend to hold their own conference.