THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION Towards a new legislative term

THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION 24 however, does not necessarily stem from a conservative stance, rather, in this case, a sensible calculation of the likelihood of success of a sufficiently ambitious Conven- tion capable of encompassing all the calls for reform of EU primary law arising from it. Conclusion In view of the analysis above, we can only give a positive appraisal of the Union’s performance on politi- co-institutional matters in 2022. The Union has carried out or is implementing a considerable amount of the CoFE proposals on improving European governance that do not require treaty reform. If the Spanish presidency of the Council of the Eu- ropean Union were to heed the Parliament, Commis- sion and civil society, it should propose to the member states the calling of a European Convention to amend the Treaties. Recommendations – After remedying some of its organisational short- comings and in view of its results, the Conference on the Future of Europe that concluded its work in 2022 should now be considered one of the world’s finest examples of participatory democracy. – The Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU in the second half of 2023 should consider putting it to the European Council to hold a political debate on whether to join the European Parliament and Euro- pean Commission in declaring that it is time to call a European Convention. Abbreviations – CoFE: Conference on the Future of Europe 2022. – TFEU:Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. – TEU: Treaty on European Union. References Aldecoa, Francisco (2022): La Conferencia sobre el Fu- turo de Europa: un método inadecuado que habr que corregir en la fase de puesta en marcha. En Diego López (Dir.) y María Pallares (Coord.), Informe sobre el Estado de la Unión Europea. Reformar Eu- ropa en tiempos de guerra , (pp.13-23). Madrid: Lúa Ediciones. Candela Castillo, José (2005): La buena gobernanza comprendida como integración de los principios de legitimidad, eficacia y justicia (especial referencia a la Unión Europea). REDE. Revista española de Derecho europeo , ISSN 1579-6302, Nº. 14, 2005, págs. 179- 211. Available at https://revistasmarcialpons.es/re vistaespanoladerechoeuropeo/article/view/291/293 Dictamen del Comité Económico y Social sobre «La gob- ernanza europea — Un Libro Blanco» (COM(2001) 428 final) (2002): Diario Oficial , C 125, 61-68. CELEX. Available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal- content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52002AE0357 [legis- lación] Consejo de la Unión Europea (2022): Conferencia so- bre el Futuro de Europa: informe sobre el resultado final: Mayo de 2022 , Oficina de Publicaciones de la Unión Europea. Available at: https://data.europa.eu/ doi/10.2860/281785 Consejo de la Unión Europea (2022): Conference on the Future of Europe - Proposals and related spe- cific measures contained in the report on the final outcome of the Conference on the Future of Europe: Preliminary technical assessment , 10033/22, ADD 1 REV 1 en AG 63 INST 223, Oficina de Publicaciones de la Unión Europea. Available at: https://data.con silium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-10033-2022- REV-1/en/pdf Comisión Europea (2022): Comunicación de la Comisión al Parlamento europeo, al Consejo europeo, al Con- sejo, al Comité económico y social europeo y al Com- ité de las regiones. Conferencia sobre el futuro de Europa. Transformar la visión en acciones concretas , COM(2022) 404 final, Oficina de Publicaciones de la Unión Europea. Available at: https://eur-lex.europa . eu/legal-content/ES/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52022DC0404