Finland: Inaugural plenary of the Conference on the Future of Europe to take place in Strasbourg

NordenBladet — The inaugural plenary of the European Conference on the Future will be held in Strasbourg on 19 June. The inaugural meeting will feature discussions on the purpose and expectations of the conference and on the conference timetable. The Finnish Government will be represented at the meeting by State Secretaries Vesa Vuorenkoski and Johanna Sumuvuori, who will attend remotely. Citizen representative Ninni Norra will represent Finland in person at the event in Strasbourg.

“The European Union exists for its citizens. The Europe-wide and national conference events will create opportunities for citizens to participate in discussions on the future of the EU in a variety of ways. These discussions will focus on democracy, the rule of law and fundamental and human rights, which are the foundation of all of the Union’s activities and which the future must also be built on,” says State Secretary Vesa Vuorenkoski.

One of the goals of the Conference on the Future of Europe is for civil society to participate actively and to organise various events. The Government will promote and support civil dialogue within the framework of the conference as part of its ordinary activities. The aim is for the participants to be as representative and diverse as possible. Discussions will be held in different parts of Finland. Information on conference events will be collected on the Commission’s multilingual digital platform, which citizens can also use to share their thoughts and submit their proposals.

Minister for European Affairs Tytti Tuppurainen will represent the Government at the conference plenaries. In addition, another minister will participate in each session based on the themes under discussion. The ministers’ state secretaries will represent the Government at the inaugural June meeting.

The composition of the conference plenary includes, among others, 108 representatives from the European Parliament, 108 representatives from all national Parliaments, 108 Europeans, and representatives from a variety of European partners. Finland considers it important to highlight the strong youth component of the conference: the Finnish citizen representative is 20-year-old Ninni Norra, who was selected by the Finnish National Youth Council Allianssi.

After the June session, plenaries will be held on 22–23 October 2021, 17–18 December 2021, 21–22 January 2022, 18–19 February 2022 and, if necessary, 11–12 March 2022.

The conference is expected to present its conclusions by spring 2022. The European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the European Commission are all committed to listening to Europeans and to following up on the conclusions reached, within their spheres of competence and within the framework of EU Treaties.

 



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