(Brussels/06.05.2022) On May 9, the final political event on the results of the Conference on the Future of Europe will take place in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. It is no coincidence that the EU has chosen Europe Day, which marks the anniversary of the Schuman Declaration and stands for peace and unity in Europe, for the closing ceremony.

"The past twelve months have been and continue to be characterized by health threats from the pandemic and geopolitical crises. Crises require common European solutions. The trust of citizens is therefore more important than ever and we must listen to them", says Manuela Ripa, MEP of the Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP), and continues: "I therefore very much welcome the format of the Conference on the Future of Europe, which aims to involve citizens more in Europe.

"The next step, however, is for the EU institutions to prove that they are taking citizens' demands for institutional reforms seriously. If we fail to do this, we should not be surprised if citizens' frustration with the EU continues to grow," explains Ripa. "We need more desire for Europe instead of frustration with Europe! Only through a genuine reform of the treaties can the EU move forward now."

"The proposals drawn up at the Conference on the Future have shown that the EU should take a leading role in combating climate change, protecting biodiversity, independent energy supply and sustainable and safe food production. Last but not least, our Union should also be a model of true democracy, including through a right of initiative for the Parliament and the abolition of the principle of unanimity in the Council," Ripa affirms.

Ripa is pleased that the European Parliament officially recognized in a vote last week that the proposals set out at the conference require an amendment to the EU treaties: "I therefore voted with the majority of my colleagues in favor of convening a European constitutional convention."

Over the past few months, 800 randomly selected European citizens have discussed with EU member states, MEPs and Commission representatives how the EU can be reformed, which policy areas it should be responsible for in the future and how the institutions can be brought closer to citizens in the future.

"With the Future Conference participatory democracy can be lived. This is exactly what my party, the ÖDP. One of our central demands is that the will of the citizens is finally reflected in the decision-making process, i.e. that more direct democracy takes place. We need more conferences like this," explains Ripa.

In the past, the ÖDP has already presented concrete measures for the successful implementation of many of the proposals that emerged from the conference, such as the increased use of organic farming methods in agriculture, the switch to a more plant-based diet to ensure a sustainable diet and the establishment of stricter standards for products to strengthen a pollutant-free and resource-conserving circular economy.

Background: The Conference on the Future of Europe is an initiative of European institutions aimed at engaging with Europe's citizens while giving them the opportunity to express their own ideas about the future of the European Union. The process, which involved randomly selected citizens, MEPs, representatives of the EU Council and the EU Commission as well as the Member States, ran for an entire year and is now coming to a close.

Almost fifty proposals and over three hundred measures on nine topics, including climate change, health, economy and social justice, democracy, digital transformation, education and migration, were submitted to improve Europe. The proposals include concrete demands, such as combating climate change, greater autonomy in the area of energy production and supply, the protection and restoration of biodiversity, the landscape and oceans, and safer and affordable food production that takes sustainability and the environment into account.

The concrete proposals and measures resulting from the Conference on the Future of Europe can be viewed at this link: https://politi.co/3MdhPYx