With the conclusion of the Conference on the Future of Europe on 9 May, how will the EU proceed with what has been achieved and what impact will the conference ultimately have? In our discussion series "Conference Conversations", we discuss these and other questions regarding the future of the Conference on the Future of Europe with European Commission Vice-President Dubravka Šuica and MEP Daniel Freund on 24 May 2022.

Russia’s attack on Ukraine has changed the European peace order and world politics. Ukraine and its citizens are facing an existential threat, the country is fighting for its very survival. Peace and freedom are at stake for all of Europe. For many years, the Bertelsmann Stiftung has been using its programs to promote a strong Europe as well as freedom and democracy. Our aim is to offer guidance, all the more so in these difficult times.

Our new study "Under Construction: Citizen Participation in the EU" shows that the EU has numerous instruments for citizen participation in place. However, the general public is not well aware of these mechanisms, and their impact is often quite limited. The individual instruments do not add up to a visible, comprehensive and effective participation infrastructure in Europe. Citizen participation in European decision-making processes consequently takes place via a patchwork of participatory instruments. In the study, we offer five recommendations for constructing a better participation infrastructure.

How is the EU developing? How do we strengthen democracy in Europe? In the face of the war in Ukraine, these questions are more urgent than ever. For just over a year now, it has been the task of the Conference on the Future of Europe to find answers together with citizens. In our video talk show "Conference Conversations" we discuss new forms of citizen participation in Europe with the former President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, and the German Minister of State for Europe, Anna Lührmann.

The EU’s Conference on the Future of Europe has gained momentum. Four citizens' panels with randomly selected EU citizens were held. More than 14,000 ideas were collected on a digital platform. But what are these achievements worth? How can the innovations of the conference ensure a better, more participatory EU in the long term? A report by the High-Level Advisory Group of our Conference Observatory provides answers to these questions.

Citizens from Spain, civil society from Poland, politicians, and members of public administrations from Croatia, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, the Czech Republic, Austria, Greece, Romania, France, Hungary, Portugal, and Ireland: Over 100 participants from all over Europe discussed the results of the common project of the Bertelsmann Stiftung and the European Committee of the Regions “From local to European”. Our stock-taking event on the 15.02.2022 shows: The genie is out of the bottle. The project gave European citizens a voice in shaping the future of Europe. Regional Citizens’ Dialogues for the future of Europe are here to stay.  

How do Greek citizens want to enhance the sustainability of tourism together with their European neighbours? What are the shared priorities of citizens of Pforzheim in Germany and Györ-Moson-Sopron in Hungary when it comes to European values and democracy? What support do citizens from EU border regions want—for example in Lower Silesia, Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic?  In our live discussion “From local to European – success stories and the main findings from local, cross-border and transnational citizens´ dialogues” we will reflect the common project “From local to European” together with the Committee of the Regions.  

Thirty years ago, on 7 February 1992, the EU heads of state and government signed the Treaty of Maastricht, comprising the blueprint for European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The treaty stipulated three steps towards the goal of monetary union and formulated a new governance framework for the common currency. Three decades after the decision, it is time to reflect: where do we stand with EMU and the euro?

Since the 2011 Arabellion, the EU has been strongly committed economically and politically in Tunisia to help the birthplace of the Arab Spring through the difficult period of transforming from a dictatorship into a representative democracy. Now the Tunisian democracy experiment is under stress. At the same time, financial collapse is looming. A challenge for the European Neighbourhood Policy.

The Ostbelgien Model