CONFERENCE ON THE FUTURE OF EUROPE: RESULTS AND PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

The article is timed to closing of the Conference on the Future Europe, which united the proposals of EU institutions and Member States, and most importantly, ensured direct participation of the EU citizens in discussion of the EU’s priority tasks in the medium term. The author compares the positions of the European Parliament, the Commission and the Council on the eve and during the Conference. The analysis of the final report on the results of the Conference allows to conclude that the EU citizens wish to deepen integration, in particular, when they propose the institutional reform, which would strengthen the supranational element of governance in the EU. On the other hand, the author observes no desire to spill back integration even from the Member States, although finds among them opponents of the institutional reform. The article explains the complex organizational structure of the Conference by the initial differences in the EU institutions’ views on the principles of its work, which reflects the existing inter-institutional tension. The author identifies the main stumbling block of the discussions – the EU Treaty change, which is needed to implement the institutional reform proposed by the participants: the European Parliament insists on the amendments, while the Council express no enthusiasm about this