Event report

This debate organized by Relais Paris Renew Europe gathered 50 people representing 12 nationalities (Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Nederland, Poland, Portugal, Romania). Main raised questions: · How to overcome the biggest impediment for Europe's future?: o We should stop with the veto and unanimity rules and create new rules for a qualified majority · How to develop a cross border dialogue ? o All the bureaucracy when UE citizens move from one country to another one should end · How to avoid that European elections take place within different national systems and are controlled by national parties, most often citizens being called to the polls through messages focused rather on national disputes? o A reform of the way the European elections are organized itself is needed. · How could we succeed in getting more power to the European Parliament? · The most difficult thing is maybe to define these famous values which are supposed to unit all of us. o We have to think deeply about that during this Conference · In a world where EU Member States have, individually taken, less and less external influence, extensive coordination at the level of multilateral institutions is needed. The interests of the Member States could be more strongly represented in these bodies, if they were expressed in a single voice, that of the European Union. A strengthened commitment at Member State level to give the Union a more prominent role in foreign policy would lead to better results for each country. o A single European voice in multilateral institutions · How to establish some sort of European sentiment amongst the European people? o Through the Conference on the Future of Europe, we should find the balance between the difficulty of engaging citizens, notably in the context of national politics which continues to blame Brussels and European institutions