Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1467182
15 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 MAY 2022 NEWS avoiding tax havens within the EU and targeting offshoring within Europe. EU in the world Several proposals concern the EU's foreign policy direction and its place in wider geopol- itics. Elements to this include strengthening autonomy in key strategic sectors, including in the field of energy production. This includes linking foreign trade with climate policy meas- ures while pursuing common purchases of imported energy and sustainable energy part- nerships and developing EU domestic sources of energy. Citizens proposed building an ethical and environmen- tal dimension to EU trade and investment relations. For ex- ample, the EU would restrict imports and sales from coun- tries that allow forced and child labour while establishing partnerships with developing countries and helping them transition towards green en- ergy sources with mutually fa- vourable trade deals. In terms of a Common For- eign and Security Policy, citi- zens are keen on changing the decision-making procedure from being one of unanimity to one of a qualified majority. People also called on the EU to strengthen its common securi- ty through a joint armed forces that would be used exclusively for self-defence purposes. It would only be deployed out- side European borders in ex- ceptional circumstances, pref- erably under a legal mandate from the UN security council without competing with or du- plicating NATO. Rights, rule of law, security Last month the European Commission triggered the "conditionality mechanism" against Hungary, a process by which Hungary's funds will be slashed due to its rule-of-law breaches. This was the first time the mechanism was used since it came into force in Jan- uary 2021. In light of this, citizens said that the EU must effectively apply the conditionality regu- lation and evaluate its scope, even considering extensions to new areas regardless of their relevance for the EU budget. Where media is concerned, citizens want the EU to strict- ly enforce competition rules in the media sector to prevent large media monopolies and ensure media pluralism and in- dependence from undue politi- cal, corporate or foreign inter- ference. They further proposed more awareness on disinforma- tion and unintentional dissem- ination of fake news through mandatory school trainings on media literacy. On living conditions, citizens called for EU-wide criteria on anti-discrimination in the la- bour market and incentivising private companies to employ people that are usually most subject to discrimination, such as youths, elders, women and minorities. The incentives could take the form of subsi- dies or temporary quotas. Digital transformation Digital literacy and access to the internet were key recom- mendations made at the con- ference. People want to ensure that fast, affordable, secure and stable internet access can be provided everywhere in the EU, with children, families, elder people and vulnerable groups considered a priority. Citizens also proposed strong cybercrime responses against large scale attacks. This would be done by increasing the fi- nancial and human resources of Europol and the European Cybercrime Center and build- ing joint European cyber de- fence capabilities against large scale attacks. Another layer to this is to ensure similar sanc- tions and quick enforcement in member states in the event of a cybercrime attack. COVID-19 propelled remote working as a viable and main- stream alternative to tradi- tional office working. On this, citizens want the EU to pursue initiatives that support remote working, such as through dig- ital training and providing re- sources for ergonomic equip- ment for home offices. European democracy The Conference on the Fu- ture of Europe has often been described as an unprecedented democratic exercise, and cit- izens want to make sure that such democratic participation becomes a regular feature even between European elections. One measure put forward in- cludes periodical citizens' as- semblies, where participants are selected randomly, with representativeness criteria, to inform decisions taken by EU institutions. If the outcome of an assembly is not taken on board by the institutions, the decision should be duly justi- fied. On more direct democratic issues, citizens called for EU- wide referendums to be car- ried out in exceptional cases on matters particularly impor- tant to all European citizens. Such referendums would have to be triggered by the Europe- an Parliament. They also want EU electoral law amended to harmonise electoral conditions like voting age and election date among member states for the European Parliament elec- tions, including a shift towards Union-wide lists. Another measure calls for the European Parliament to be granted the right of legis- lative initiative and the ability to decide on the budget of the EU. Regarding the EU deci- sion-making process, citizens seem to shun unanimous vot- ing and instead want issues to be decided on by way of qual- ified majority, expect when admitting new members to the bloc or changing treaties. And to the delight of those who, understandably, confuse the European Council with the Council of the European Union, citizens recommended that the EU should change the names of certain institutions to clarify their functions. For ex- ample, the Council of the EU could be called the Senate of the EU, or the European Com- mission could be called the Ex- ecutive Commission of the EU. Migration On legal migration, citizens want a European entity to be set up for migrants' access to the EU labour market while promoting upwards conver- gence on working conditions harmoniously throughout the union. With regards to irreg- ular migration, citizens expect the EU to participate actively in places outside the EU from where there is is a high outflux of migrants. Beyond this, citizens pro- posed increasing EU financial, logistical and operational sup- port for the management of first reception to better inte- grate refugees and regular mi- grants in the EU, or repatria- tion of irregular migrants from the bloc. People also want the Dublin system to be revisited in or- der to guarantee solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility, including the redistribution of migrants among member states. Additionally, they pro- pose that asylum seekers with relevant qualifications should be given access to the labour market. Youth and culture During the conference citi- zens said the EU should focus on the specific needs of young people across all relevant pol- icies. To do this, people sug- gested having citizens' panels with children aged 10 to 16 in schools to help inform deci- sion-making processes. People further proposed put- ting an end to youth minimum wages across the bloc and ban- ning unpaid internships on the labour market and outside for- mal education. They went on to recommend specific policies to avoid brain drain, a measure most relevant for Malta where small size offers limited oppor- tunities for young people. European exchange pro- grammes like Erasmus+ and DiscoverEU are some of the union's flagship initiatives, and citizens want the EU to strengthen these programmes to ensure more widespread and diverse participation in such programmes. They also sug- gested adding new elements to these initiatives, such as a civ- ic service objective or cultural passes. Job well done: CFOE co-chairs MEP Guy Verhofstadt (European Parliament) and Vice-President Dubravka Sucia (European Commission) give each other a celebratory hug