Europaudvalget 2020-21
EUU Alm.del Bilag 224
Offentligt
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Ref. Ares(2020)7894434 - 23/12/2020
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Ursula von der Leyen
The President
Brussels,
23 12. 2Ö2Ö
Ares (2020) 7282972
Dear Chairmen,
Dear Mr Krichbaum, Dear Mr Wolf,
Following you and your co-signatories recent letter, I would like to thank you for your
commitment to support the upcoming Conference on the Future ofEurope and the strong and
continued interest of the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs
(COSAC) in playing a major role therein.
As I underlined during the COSAC Plenary meeting of 1 December 2020, I would like to
reassure you that the Conference is and remains a priority for this Commission - even more
so in the wake of the pandemic - and that national Parliaments will be instrumental in
making it a success.
The Conference’s ultimate purpose is to bring European citizens closer to EU affairs by
enabling them to help shape Europe's future. I want as many Europeans as possible to
contribute, whoever and wherever they are. It is vital that we engage citizens in European
policymaking, allow them to make their voices heard in topical debates and, crucially, act
upon their proposals, as Ipledged in my Political Guidelines.
National Parliaments and their members, as the backbones of representative democracy,
embody a direct link to citizens and will therefore have a decisive role to play in the
Conference. The Commission made this clear in its Communication on the Conference of
22 January 20201.
./..
1 https://ec.europa.eu/info/pubUcations/commissions-contribution-shapins-conference-future-europe en
Mr Gunther Krichbaum, MdB
Chairman of the Committee on European Union Affairs
German Bundestag
Mr Guido Wolf
Chairman of the Committee on European Union Questions
German Bundesrat
E-mail: mascha. petersCcfbundestas. de. mascha. petersid.natparl. ep. europa, eu
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELG1Ë - Tel. +32 2299 lill
 EUU, Alm.del - 2020-21 - Bilag 224: Svar fra Kommissionen til COSAC vedr. konferencen om Europas fremtid
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I can assure you that the early involvement of COSAC and ofsome national Parliaments has
already shaped this process, notably during the negotiations of the Joint Declaration on the
scope, objectives, principles and structure ofthe Conference.
As I stressed during our last exchange, national Parliaments should indeed be represented in
the Conference ’s governance structures. If there is a plenary agreed upon in the final design,
of course members of national Parliaments should be included in this plenary. I am sure that
we will find with the other institutions a solution on how to integrate national Parliaments in
the other bodies of the Conference. I also encourage national parliamentarians to be equally
active on the ground, in their home constituencies where they are close to citizens, since most
ofthe Conference ’s events will take place in a decentralisedfashion, as you supported. This is
an ideal opportunity to debate and engage with citizens about EU affairs. The Commission
relies on your support and enthusiasm, in cooperation with civil society and local, regional
and national authorities to achieve that.
The Commission has been developing a first-of-its-kind multilingual digital platform, which
will allow for virtual contributions and for online events to be organised, as face-to-face
meetings will be difficult during the pandemic. All proposals made by citizens and the
outcome of debates virtual or not - should be uploaded onto the platform, which, once
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launched, will be a critical element of the Conference ’s feedback and follow-up mechanism.
One of the platform's key strengths is the possibility it gives to organise transnational events,
thus helping to spark a truly European and lively debate. In this vein, I strongly encourage
national Parliaments, authorities and politicians to use and promote the platform.
On the topics for discussion during the Conference, I would like to stress the openness of the
initiative. It is crucial that citizens will be entitled to debate on any subject that matters to
them and ideally identify core issues, which willfeed into future EUpolicies.
The Commission remains ready to launch the Conference as swiftly as possible, once
negotiations on the Joint Declaration with the European Parliament and the Council have
been successfully concluded.
I lookforward to working together on this exciting initiative and rely on your support to make
the Conference the success it deserves to be.
Yours faithfully,
Ursula von der Leyen