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14 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 11 MAY 2022 NEWS EUROPE These articles are part of a content series called Ewropej. This is a multi-newsroom initiative part-funded by the European Parliament to bring the work of the EP closer to the citizens of Malta and keep them informed about matters that affect their daily lives. These articles reflect only the authors' view. The European Parliament is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains. Europe must change now, it's a matter of survival: Verhofstadt to 'Future' conference MATTHEW VELLA THE co-chair of the Conference for the Future of Europe, Guy Verhofstadt, has paid tribute to one of the EU's most ambitious of citizen assemblies, whose pro- posals for the EU were now a "matter of survival". In between praise for Europe- an values and the CFOE's ambi- tious experiment in deliberative democracy, Verhofstadt – a for- mer Belgian prime minister and liberal democrat MEP (Renew) – sounded a stark warning for Europe. Verhofstadt evoked the differ- ence between Russia's "delirium of militarism" on 9 May, con- trasted with the EU's renewed commitment to its peace pro- ject on Europe day where it was formally starting its roadmap for change. He said that in a future of 'empires' and superpowers led by emboldened nations like China and revanchism from Russia, only a united Europe- an bloc and integration could allow Europeans to fully enjoy their values and liberties. "This is now a matter of survival, and the Conference offers us the proposals for us to continue on this road, for Europe not to dis- appear." Verhofstadt also paid tribute to the citizens' assembly that created the proposals for the Future of Europe, saying this kind of deliberative democracy was "the antidote to the algo- rithms of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg" – the owners of Twitter and Facebook – "who only see people as 'profiles'." He described the process, which he co-chaired with Eu- ropean Commissioner Dubrav- ka Suica, difficult, passionate and "sometimes frightening". But he said the 49 themes and 300 proposals that citizens and MEPs are presenting to the Commission and the European Council would make the Un- ion more democratic, "a Un- ion that can act rapidly, and in a more decisive manner when tackling the challenges of to- morrow." He also said that even in face of Eurosceptic opposition to the EU project, the vast partic- ipation of European citizens in the process showed a different face to this view. "The reality is indeed differ- ent – everyone loves Europe, all the citizens believe in the European project, but most people are of the opinion that the EU doesn't currently ful- fil their dream. They may love Europe, but they are hugely critical of the working of the Union, and sometimes, I would say for good reason. People don't fear change: the urge is to change the Union, and they want it to happen now." Conference programme One of the European Union's most ambitious of citizen as- semblies officially comes to an end today on Europe Day, with 49 proposals that include over 300 measures on how to achieve change within the Un- ion. Led by expert panellists and randomly-selected citizens who congregated across var- ious conferences all over Eu- rope in the last year, the pro- posals are supported by the European Parliament. In Strasbourg today, the Con- ference on the Future of the Europe will be addressed by its co-chairs MEP Guy Verhof- stadt and European Commis- sioner Dubravka Šuica, with in- terventions from citizens who participated in the CFOE, as well as speeches from Europe- an Parliament president Rober- ta Metsola, European Commis- sion president Ursula von der Leyen, and French president Emanuel Macron, who holds the Council presidency. MEPs have acknowledged that the "ambitious and con- structive proposals" that came out of the Conference require Treaty changes. This will require the EP's committee on constitutional affairs to prepare the propos- als to reform the EU Treaties, which must happen through a Convention. MEPs also supported the pro- posal for a right of legislative initiative for Parliament and by ending unanimity in Council. The CFOE has been remark- able in giving a forum for cit- izens' expectations, priorities, and concerns in an unprece- dented exercise in participa- tory democracy. Many MEPs also said citi- zens need to be involved more alongside stronger democratic representation at EU level. The Conference Plenary adopted its 49 proposals on 30 April 2022. These include more than 300 measures across 9 themes and were based on 178 recommendations from the European Citizens' Panels, input from the National Pan- els and events, ideas from the European Youth Event, and 43,734 contributions on 16,274 ideas recorded on the multilin- gual digital platform. "This is now a matter of survival, and the Conference offers us the proposals for us to continue on this road, for Europe not to disappear"