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

HOW CAN PARTICIPATION IN THE CONFERENCE ON THE FUTURE OF EUROPE BE IMPROVED FOR ORGANISED CIVIL SOCIETY AND CITIZENS? 39 process, as highlighted by the Spanish External Action Strategy, recently approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it is going to imply that the European Convention and Intergovernmental Conference are called after the end of the CoFoE in spring 2022. Furthermore, going into this further detail obeys the interests and values of the set of Spanish political forc- es, social partners and even Autonomous Communities where there has been until now, and there continues to be, great consensus on these major focus topics. We should not forget that, in this respect, Spanish political forces are all voting in the same direction and the same can be said in the European Economic and Social Com- mittee and in the Committee of Regions. The Conference on the Future of Europe is, therefore, an innovative, new instrument emerging for the first time in the European political process on the request of the French President, Emmanuel Macron. The innovation consists of, on the one hand, linking up participative de- mocracy, in other words citizens and civil society, with the representative democracy, formed by the institutions.This will, once again, expand participation from the stake- holders in improving the political project. Until the con- vention, this only involved representatives of the States; with the European Convention, this has been expanded to include representatives from the European Parliament and the national parliaments. Now, we are seeing this further step. However, perhaps a previous step is still re- quired – a forum uniquely for representatives of citizens and civil society. The Conference will therefore have to stand out from the European Convention, as these two forums have different natures and aims, and they follow different systems. The Conference should aim to incorporate the effective demands of citizens and civil society and, there- fore, prepare the decision towards the change and focus on the model. The European Convention, determined in article 48 of the TEU, should convert this into a proposal for legal reform of the Treaties. On this basis, both forums will have to make themselves stand out clearly in terms of composition and therefore also in how they work. Citizens and civil society should take part in the Con- ference on an equal footing with representatives from the aforementioned institutions. The European Conven- tion will remain just for representatives from the insti- tutions and Member States, as determined in the Treaty on European Union. Subsequently, representatives from each State’s Governments will take part in the Intergov- ernmental Conference (IGC). Therefore, these are three different steps, and in my opinion, their autonomy should be clearly conserved. The Conference should maintain this distinction. Finally, the Conference on the Future of Europe is an opportunity to strengthen the current federation process by contributing political dialogue between civil society and citizens and the institutions on an equal footing. Consequently, a consensual proposal should be made by all participants to update the European project through structured political dialogue that should conclude with a joint proposal that will be presented in Strasbourg on 9 May 2022. Conclusions: relevance, opportunity and need to improve the Conference on the Future of Europe At the start of this paper, we questioned the relevance of the Conference on the Future of Europe and its whys and wherefores. We can conclude by stating that it is highly relevant because it helps adapt the European Union to the new changes since the last reform in 2007 (sign- ing the Treaty of Lisbon) and particularly to update the European Union in the light of the silent federalisation over the last year as a consequence of Covid-19 and our challenges now and in the next two decades in which the Recovery Plan and the New Generations Fund will have to be applied and even, returning what has been borrowed. Regarding the question of whether civil society plays the role that corresponds to it in this Conference, we understand that there is still a long way to go for several