Skip to content
  • ABOUT
  • WRITING
  • SPEAKING
  • ADVOCACY
  • BLOG
  • CONTACT
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

ALBERTO ALEMANNO

Primary Menu
  • Europe
  • Democracy
  • Advocacy & Lobbying
  • Health
  • Risk Regulation

Over 10% of citizen proposals on EU’s future require treaty changes, expert says

EURACTIV - Eleonora Vasques - 15/04/22

Twelve per cent of European citizens’ proposals as a part of the conference on the Future of Europe require a treaty change if they are to be implemented, according to an EU law expert.

Outcomes of the conference are expected to be partially implemented by the Czech Republic, which takes over the rotating EU Council presidency in July. [European Parliament/Michel CHRISTEN]

The data, seen by EURACTIV and compiled by Alberto Alemanno, EU Law professor at HEC Paris Business School and students from several universities, was extrapolated from the 178 proposals submitted to the conference between December 2021 and February 2022.

CoFoE is the EU’s deliberative democracy experiment where thousands of citizens from across the bloc compiled proposals on how they want the EU to function and what they feel it should focus on. The proposals are now under the scrutiny of the conference’s plenary composed of citizens, civil society organisations, and EU and national politicians.

“We have browsed all 178 recommendations from the 4 Citizens’ Panels and classified them into four categories”, explains Alemanno on Twitter.

Twenty three do not need any action, 21 require action on a member state level, the EU can implement 113, and 21 require an EU treaty change.

All recommendations falling under the latter categories entail either institutional reform (4) or the transfer of new competences in welfare (7), education (5), health care (2), taxation (2), and energy (1).

Expert Alberto Alemanno

However, calculations by European Commission Vice-President Věra Jourová estimate that roughly half of citizens’ proposals would require a treaty change.

The Commission did not share how they got to such a figure, but those working on Alemanno’s study suspect “the [European] Commission’s (provisional) figure is higher insofar as Jourová’s Cabinet considered each citizen’s recommendation asking for EU action as only attainable through EU-led action, whereas our method also envisages the possibility of having member states – acting within their domestic competences – in coordination among them”.

Possible scenarios

Since the beginning of the experiment, CoFoE’s organisers said that recommendations’ implementation will occur according to the ordinary EU legislative process.

In this scenario, participants in the study believe that “the 21 recommendations may represent a sufficient critical mass for one or more EU institutions and/or one or more EU member states to trigger the Article 48 TEU’s revision procedure”.

The latter entails “amendments of the treaties” that can be submitted to the Council by “the government of any member state, the European Parliament or the Commission”, which can ask “to increase or to reduce the competences conferred on the [EU] in the treaties”.

The 178 recommendations are set to influence future EU political and policy decision-making before, during and after the next EU Parliamentary elections.

Alberto Alemanno

But the prospect of changing treaties could potentially cause disquiet in the Commission who previously said they were unwilling to undertake such actions.

However, Guy Verhofstadt, CoFoE’s chair, told journalists that “I cannot see a situation in which the Council, the Commission or the Parliament declare that they do not follow up some citizen’s recommendations. The task for the plenary will be to react and accommodate each of them. There is no escape from this”.

However, in an interview with EURACTIV, Dubravka Šuica, the Vice-President of the European Commission for Democracy and Demography who is leading the Commission’s CoFoE work said that treaties could be changed if citizens required that, although it would be the last step of the process.

She noted that any changes to treaties would still have to follow the appropriate legislative process. “The European Commission will be always in support of this process. To sum up, if citizens ask for change of treaties we will support it, but as I said, according to our legislative role.”

CoFoE next steps

The CoFoE will end with a final ceremony in Strasbourg in early May at the European Parliament. There is one last discussion amongst members of the conference’s plenary, which will be held by April.

Afterwards, EU institutions will begin their part by implementing citizens’ recommendations in EU policy-making for the following months.


Continue Reading

Previous Ursula von der Leyen offers speedy response to Ukraine’s bid to join EU
Next The Court of Justice of the EU goes (almost) public

RSS READ ME IN THE GUARDIAN

  • We lived the European dream. Will any politician stand up for open borders? 22/05/2020
  • Europe doesn't have to be so helpless in this crisis 26/03/2020
  • The EU won’t fix its democratic deficit with another top-down ‘conference’ | Alberto Alemanno 21/01/2020
  • There are 17 million mobile EU citizens. We deserve a political voice | Alberto Alemanno 01/05/2019

RSS READ ME IN THE POLITICO

  • The Qatar scandal shows how the EU has a corruption problem
  • Once again, FIFA has sold its own rules and values for money
  • The end of Euro-bashing
  • Facebook vs. the EU
  • The real winner of the Italy-France dispute is Europe

PODCAST: CITIZEN LOBBYIST

EP 9 I What is European Racism? &How do we fight it?
byThe Good Lobby

This episode of Citizen Lobbyist investigates racism in Europe.

After the assassination of George Floyd, we have seen a new wave of protests and indignation not only in the US, but also in Europe. While systemic racism may be harder to spot in Europe than in the United States, the roots of racism are the same on both continents. Systemic discrimination is not only present but also perpetrated by the same institutions that should fight to prevent it.

Together with the Open Society European Policy Institute – OSEPI – we gathered four amazing female activists from different backgrounds:

Layla @Azzuzi – Collective Against Islamophobia in Belgium
Dijana Pavlovic – European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture
Violeta Naydenova – Senior Policy Analyst on Roma and Anti-discrimination at Osepi
Wetsi Mpoma – Bamko-Cran: Centre for Reflection and Action on Racism

Hey, it’s me Fiorella! :
I would love to have a 60 min discussion of the topics we discussed on Clubhouse.
If you like the idea, just send me a message and we will make it happen.

You can DM me on Instagram: @flowlav
Or send me an email at: [email protected]
Clubhouse: @flowlav

EP 9 I What is European Racism? &How do we fight it?
EP 9 I What is European Racism? &How do we fight it?
04/02/2021
The Good Lobby
EP 8 I How should lobbying be regulated?
02/12/2020
The Good Lobby
Ep7 I Why civil society matters in a post Covid-19 world
13/06/2020
The Good Lobby
Ep 6 I Why academics must work for society
20/05/2020
The Good Lobby
Ep 5 I Why people work for free? The PRO BONO phenomenon
08/05/2020
The Good Lobby
Ep 4 I The future of digital activism
24/04/2020
The Good Lobby
Ep 3 I The business of lobbying – New scenarios during the Covid-19 outbreak
09/04/2020
The Good Lobby
Ep. 2 I European Citizens' Initiative: lobbying for citizens without borders
24/03/2020
The Good Lobby
Ep. 1 I Lobbying. What is it? Can Citizens do it?
21/02/2020
The Good Lobby
Ep. 0 I Intro
27/01/2020
The Good Lobby
Search Results placeholder

SEARCH BY TAG

Alessandro Chiocchetti Angela Merkel Ashoka Bloomberg Brexit Citizen Lobbying COVID-19 Davos democracy Didier Reynders ethics EU elections Europe European Commission European Parliament Eva Kaili Forbes France Future of Europe Italy Le Monde lobbying Macron Mario Draghi Meloni Neelie Kroes Netherlands Olaf Scholz orban participation Poland policymaking Politico Qatar Qatargate Renzi Russia scotland The Good Lobby The Guardian Uber Files Ukraine vaccine Von der Leyen World Cup

ARCHIVES

  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
Copyright © Alberto Alemanno - All rights reserved. 2020–2023 | Designed by Mila Branders
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Cookies PolicyACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT