THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION REPORT. Europe in a period of transition

THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION 38 Committee of Regions and the Economic and Social Committee and even between institutions to instil direct permanent dialogue. Seven, influence and relations with public opinion should be considerably strengthened as it is impossible to meet the objective of bringing citizens and civil soci- ety closer to the Conference on the Future of Europe if European, national, regional and local public opinion is missing. Eight, some of the 9 Commissions or Work Groups that are going to be created for each of the topics to be debated in the Conference should be presided over by civil society as they are currently going to be run by the institutions (2 by the European Parliament, 2 by the European Commission, 2 by the European Union Council and 2 by the National Parliaments) except for the Com- mission for Youth, Sport, Education and Culture that will be presided over by the President of the Young European Forum. Nine, when evidence demonstrates that the current model and composition have not worked, civil society representatives should also be allowed on the Executive Board of the Conference on the Future of Europe. Finally, we understand that it was a mistake not to schedule a Plenary in the next four months, from 19 June to 22 October and yet, one will be held practically every month after that, and poorly distributed throughout the schedule. The aim is to achieve a proposal that can be made public on 9 May, before the French presidential elections. However, it is not clear whether the Confer- ence will run on for a few more months after this initial proposal. The Conference could strengthen the current federalisation process One central topic is the role of the Media and public opinion.The Conference on the Future of Europe is going reasonably unnoticed in Spanish public opinion. However, Spain is one of the Member States that is currently most in need of support from the European Union and, at the same time, that the EU is helping more, as seen in the distribution of the Recovery Plan, as we are receiving almost 20% of the total. In other words, Spain is going to receive 140,000 million out of the 750,000 million Euros plus other aid to slow down unemployment. In other circumstances, in terms of our population or our income, we would be getting less than 10%. The recent special Eurobarometer on the Conference on the Future of Europe determined that 71% of Europe- ans are in favour of it.This matches the Spanish position, with 70% of Spaniards in favour. However, concerning the question on whether they would take part in the Co- FoE, only 41% say they would, while 51% of Europeans would take part if they were called, even though Spain is usually one of the most pro-European countries and at least a quarter of EU States are manifestly Eurosceptic. These figures are a powerful wake-up call when we are one of the countries that most benefits from the European decisions and, therefore, that most requires the Conference on the Future of Europe to implement the necessary reforms for this distribution of income to continue working that consolidate the European welfare state and the rights of European citizens. It is also striking in this respect that the signing of the Interinstitutional Declaration held in Brussels on 10th March was not broadcast, nor the opening of the Stras- bourg Conference, with great pomp, on 9 May, on the 71st anniversary of the Schuman Declaration, nor the presentation of the Conference in Lisbon on 16 June, nor the first Plenary of the Conference on the Future of Europe held on 19 June in Strasbourg which I was hon- oured to attend. Consequently, the role of public opin- ion and the Media is going to be enormously important. Organised civil society is in an optimum position to be able to revitalise this participation and to get feedback between the Media, civil society and the citizens who will have to report back. The Conference is the start of the reform process that, considering that it will demand competences to be more extensive and the reform of the decision-making