Dear members, partners and friends,

After one of the most challenging years for Europe and the whole world, the European Union launches a citizen-led series of debates and discussions on our common future. The Conference on the Future of Europe (COFOE) is a major pan-European process that aims to offer an open and inclusive public forum that will enable citizens and organizations to become involved in shaping the future of the Union. By spring 2022, the Conference is expected to reach conclusions and provide guidance on the next steps.

According to a recent Eurobarometer survey that was carried jointly by the European Commission and the European Parliament, most European citizens agree that the COVID pandemic made them reflect on the future of the Union. The study showed that the vast majority (92%) across all Member States demand that citizens’ voices are ‘taken more into account in decisions relating to the future of Europe’; around 75% of Europeans believe that the Conference on the Future of Europe will positively affect democracy within the EU, while half of them expressed their interest in participating in the Conference themselves.

CESI believes that there is a need for an active involvement of workers and their representatives in the COFOE and wants to contribute to engaging with its members and partners informing them about the opportunities the Conference opens for social partners and trade unions.

In this context, the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions organizes a timely discussion on the role of trade unions and social partners in the Conference in order to provide its members, partners and friends with an opportunity to exchange with some of the key EU decision makers on the Conference and to discuss about the expectations towards the Conference and its significance for European citizens and particularly workers, as well as the possibilities of national and European level trade union and social partner organisations to become actively involved.

The following speakers shall introduce into the debate:

Dubravka Šuica, Vice-President of the European Commission for Democracy and Demography

Manfred Weber, Chair of the Group of the European People’s Party (EPP) in the European Parliament

Klaus Heeger, CESI Secretary General, who will facilitate the debate

The Event will be conducted in English and there will be simultaneous interpretation provided from/to German and Italian.

The event is co-funded by the European Union under the WeEP project.