MMr President of the European Council, dear Charles Michel,
We are writing to you as part of the preparation of the 2024-2029 strategic program of the European Union that you are leading as President of the European Council, a program that the heads of state and government must adopt on June 28 and 29 in in the wake of the European elections. This constitutes a work agenda for the period 2024-2029 which is binding on the EU institutions within the framework of the treaties. This program will translate concretely into laws and actions of the European Union and Member States and will have a major impact on the life of every citizen.
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You have initiated consultation with heads of state and government and warned that you will take into account the work of the EU institutions. You also stressed in a letter to the heads of state and government that it was important to increase the level of ambition of this program in a context of unprecedented geopolitical and strategic upheavals. You recalled that, during this last five-year term, the European Council had to face existential challenges such as the great pandemic, with considerable economic, social, health and industrial consequences, which gave rise to the large loan of 750 billion euros. The war waged in Ukraine by Russia with major socio-economic, geopolitical and military consequences for Europe has led the European Council to consider further enlargement of the Union.
7 weeks to take on immense challenges
The first preparatory work for this strategic agenda has been made public. They do not seem to us to take sufficient account of the profound changes in European society in recent years nor, above all, to be sufficiently daring. This is often the case with the first preparatory work and there are only seven weeks left for the ambition of the strategic program to match the immense challenges that lie ahead of us.
Beyond the work of the Union institutions, we would like to invite you to take into account the work carried out by civil society and the world of ideas and more generally the common concerns of citizens of the European Union, like your predecessors. ‘did. The strategic program must not only reflect the priorities of the leaders of the European Union but also that of the interests of European citizens in their diversity.
From the fall of 2016, in the wake of the British referendum, the Presidents of the European Council and the European Commission requested several reports and initiatives which contributed to nourishing the 2019-2024 strategic program that you ensured to implement. Let us cite for example “The European path for a better future” from the democratic movement Civico Europa, a report which was followed by the We Europeans consultation, engaging 38 million citizens in the 27 countries and 25 languages of the Union. The results known in spring 2019 expressed clear and shared priorities of EU citizens in terms of accelerating the ecological transition of European society, democratization with a focus on respect for the rule of law and a more direct and continuous involvement of citizens in the European institutional process, protection in terms of rights and freedoms particularly in social areas, international regulation particularly with regard to digital platforms. This work was duly taken into account in the strategic program for the period 2019-2024.
Meet the expectations of civil society
Today, we would like to suggest that you integrate the lessons of “Europe 2040: Tomorrow is built today – Co-building a global, sustainable and responsible power” into your reflections. This report submitted on March 23 to the Belgian presidency of the Council of the EU constitutes a contribution of the Conclave to the preparation of the strategic program. It results from the non-partisan, trans-disciplinary and intergenerational work of around fifty influential and bold European voices including both leading political leaders and citizens of the Union, having participated in the Conference on the Future of the Europe and representing the diversity of sensitivities of the European Union.
In particular, there are three lessons to which we would like to draw your attention.
1. A new maturity. First, the maturity of European citizens to transform the European Union into a new generation power, a world power which refuses to be caught in the Sino-American rivalry, while forcefully affirming its attachment to the transatlantic link, a power which places democracy, sustainable development and responsibility at the heart of its reactor, which must be at the center of its geopolitical strategies. If it transforms, the Union has the resources and means to play on an equal footing with the two superpowers, the United States and China, while developing and assuming its own DNA in terms of a social market economy. and ecological, as well as democracy. This new maturity was made possible by the way in which the Union overcame the major crises of recent years. It assumes that Europeans change their mindset and equip themselves with considerably improved decision-making and execution capabilities.
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2. Priorities. The second lesson concerns the fundamental questions and priorities that we believe should be taken into account. It seems essential to us that the EU is able to better anticipate the major challenges of the decades to come. Both the covid-19 pandemic and the aggression currently carried out by Russia in Ukraine could be anticipated. This anticipation would have made it possible to reduce their cost for European citizens. We have also identified seventeen fundamental questions that the European Council could take into account in its preparatory work so as not to be caught off guard but on the contrary to give the feeling that it is allowing Europeans to take control of their destiny. These seventeen fundamental questions refer to four priorities aimed at building this new generation power: The geopolitical affirmation of the European Union; World-class scientific, technological and industrial leadership to put an end to technological and economic stalling, guaranteeing European competitiveness and prosperity for decades to come; A new development model guaranteeing social cohesion based on the production of common goods in terms of security and defense, health, climate, digital and energy infrastructure, education, culture, agriculture, etc. ‘no Member State has the means to implement it alone; A new democratic stage aimed at strengthening the rule of law, pluralism and the critical sense of citizens by relying on a multilingual and multinational European public space, articulated with the public spaces of the 27, and made possible by the latter developments in digital platforms and machine translation. It is clear that the European Union will have to adapt its budget and resources to meet citizens’ increased expectations.
3. The European method. The third lesson is the European method which requires a change of state of mind. It involves radically revising it to better take advantage of the scale effects allowed by the size of the EU and better solicit the stakeholders in the European project and in particular European citizens – who wish to be continuously associated with the processes. Europeans. The method must also be a Source of acceleration through more prospective and collective analysis, better planning and significantly improved decision-making and implementation capacity in a period of unprecedented geopolitical and technological acceleration.
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This report, accessible to all citizens, was presented to the Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union as well as to heads of state and government who requested it. It circulates widely in economic, union, civic and cultural circles.
We are available to present to you at your convenience and in the presence of your colleagues from the European Council our work from civil society which, as Bronisław Geremek recalled, embodies the democratic vitality of Europe. Taking these reflections into account makes it possible to strengthen the relevance and usefulness of the Union for our fellow citizens and provide it with a precious addition of soul. It is also a lever to fight against the temptations of withdrawal and exacerbated nationalism, which are commonplace in periods of tectonic upheaval.
*Guillaume KLOSSA, president of EuropaNova and the Conclave, coordinator of the report; Piero BENASSI, Italian ambassador, professor at the Catholic University of Milan; Jean-Pierre BOURGUIGNON, mathematician, former president of the European Research Council; Etienne DAVIGNON, former European Commissioner, president of Friends of Europe; Philippe ÉTIENNE, French ambassador, president of the mission for the 80th anniversary of the Liberation; Aart de GEUS, former Deputy Secretary General of the OECD; Peter GRK, Secretary General of the Bled Strategic Forum; Maria-Joao RODRIGUES, former minister, final negotiator of the Lisbon Strategy, the Lisbon Treaty and the European Pillar of Social Rights; Grégoire ROOS, head of dialogue and political innovation at the BMW Foundation; Daniela SCHWARZER, political scientist, member of the board of directors of the Bertelsmann Foundation; Erika STAEL VON HOLSTEIN, general director of Re-Imagine Europa; Loukas TSOUKALIS, president of Eliamep, professor at Sciences-Po; António VITORINO, former European Commissioner and former Director General of the World Organization for Migration.
