Civil Society Europe, as the coordination for civil society organisations in Europe, established a Civil Society Convention for the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE). We invite all organisations that like us, are “working towards regenerating the European project around the shared values of Equality, Solidarity, Inclusiveness and Democracy”, to recognise themselves in the founding declaration  and agree to reclaim a space for civil society organisations in the Conference on the Future of Europe to join the Convention. 

The Convention is composed of more than 75 organisations active at pan European level that share EU values and subscribe to the joint declaration and it remains open for membership all along the process.

List of Members

OBJECTIVES

We shall take the opportunity of the Conference for the Future of Europe to provide European civil society organisations a strong and representative platform to address limitations in EU policies and seek effective and specific solutions to current and future challenges. This includes policies that create European economic, social and environmental cohesion, changes to the functioning of EU institutions and democracy as well as any Treaty changes needed to implement these policies.

As European wide networks of civil society organisations representing citizens and people living on EU territory, as well as in the Western Balkans, we want, in coordination with our national members, to be closely involved in the Conference, but also in its agenda-setting, priorities, as well as in the follow-up.

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

The work of the Convention is thematically clustered around the political priorities and pillars of the EU to be discussed in the frame of the CoFoE, as defined in the Joint Declaration adopted by the President of the European Parliament, of the European Commission and the EU Council President, while also implementing a holistic and intersectional approach, and leaving space for new issues to be added on the EU agenda.

As European wide networks of civil society organisations representing citizens and people living on EU territory, as well as in the Western Balkans, we want, in coordination with our national members, to be closely involved in the Conference, but also in its agenda-setting, priorities, as well as in the follow-up.

Steering Committee

The role and goals of the Convention have been agreed with its members during the constitutive plenary. The elected Steering Committee commits to impulse the Convention’s strategy and ensure its implementation, as well as to coordinate the content-based work and outputs.

Concretely, the Steering Committee will:  

• Coordinate the work of the thematic clusters, ensure an effective circulation of ideas (among Working Groups and with the Plenary);  
• Set the pace for the preparation of civil society recommendations to the CoFoE and propose key principles for a participatory Convention process based on diversity, inclusiveness and equality;  
• Draft an action plan, a communication and outreach strategy, as well as a fundraising plan, based on proposals by the co-chairs;  
• Draft quality principles and strategy for a participatory Convention to be implemented while reaching out and involving national-level constituencies into the Convention processes;  
• Ensure the implementation of the above-mentioned strategies and work plan;  
• Assist all parties involved in following the guiding principles of the Convention stated in the founding declaration and complying with the present operating rules.

 

The Steering Committee is co-chaired by Alexandrina NAJMOWICZ, Secretary General of the European Civic Forum and Milosh RISTOVSKI, Secretary General of the Young European Federalists. They will coordinate the work as well as represent the Convention towards the Executive Board of the Conference on the Future of Europe. 

The Steering Committee is composed of the representatives of the Convention member organisations appointed during the Constitutive Plenary, namely: Gabriella CIVICO from the Centre for European Volunteering, Céline FABREQUETTE, from Ecolise, the the European network for community-led initiatives on climate change and sustainability, Elisa GAMBARDELLA from Solidar, Patrizia HEIDEGGER from the Green10, Assya KAVRAKOVA from the European Citizens Action Service, Piotr SADOWSKI from Volonteurope and Antonella VALMORBIDA from the ALDA, the European Association for Local democracy.

 

 

Secretariat

The Secretariat will be provided by Civil Society Europe, and its coordinator, but it will also benefit from the support of the Convention member organisations.

It will work closely with the co-chairs of the Convention and will support in particular the relations with EU institutions, the Executive Board of the CoFoE and its plenary. It will also be the collection point of the contributions of the thematic clusters for the Convention plenary, and in view of the preparation of a final document, liaising closely with the chairs of the thematic clusters that are responsible for the organisation of the work. The secretariat will also ensure coherence with the external communication work, which will be overseen by the co-chairs with the support of the Steering Committee.

 

 

Thematic clusters

To voice its vision and proposals for CoFoE, the Convention has defined 5 thematic clusters on topics identified as central for the Future of Europe. It is expected that each thematic cluster will gather representatives of the Convention member organisations in order to elaborate supporting documents and interventions in their respective thematic areas.

ACTION PLAN

 

2021
March-May	Setting up the working structures (sub topic selection, deconstruction of topic).
June-July	Final plans for gathering information from the constituencies.
September – December	Collection of data from Constituencies and preparing of reports.
2022
January – February	Gathering feedback on reports from constituencies.
February – April	Feedback on proposed actions and presentation of reports.
May	Final event
June	Evaluation