Recording:

Dear friends,

Democracy in Europe is under heavy attack today due to Putin’s illegal war against Ukraine, and more covertly, due to some EU governments’ ongoing attacks on the rule of law. For the European peace project to survive in this dramatically changing world, it is paramount to empower the people to become architects of our common future. 

The Conference on the Future of Europe, set to conclude on May 9th, will mark an important step towards more citizen participation. But it risks falling short of making the dearly needed changes for a strong European democracy which will work for everyone. If the European Union wants to play a relevant role in shaping the future of our continent, fundamental reforms are required. 

  • But is the EU really listening to what the people want? 
  • Will EU leaders respond to the European citizens’ demands to build a Europe that delivers more than economic profit? 
  • And how do Europeans want to protect their values of freedom, rule of law and democracy across Europe? 

Clearly, the protection of democracy abroad needs to start at home. The EU needs to empower citizens’ rights that include everyone. The Conference on the Future of Europe has only been the beginning. With our high-level guests we want to speak about what lies ahead:

  • Anna Lührmann | German Minister of State for Europe and Climate
  • Suzanna Carp | Democracy activist & ECIT Foundation Board Member
  • Daniel Freund | Member of the European Parliament for Greens/EFA and representative in the Executive Board of the Conference on the Future of Europe
  • Sandro Gozi | Member of the European Parliament for Renew and former Italian State Secretary for European Affairs
  • Sarah Händel | Board Member of Mehr Demokratie e.V.
  • Stephanie Hartung | Pulse of Europe Vice-Chair and National Citizens’ Representative Germany at the Conference on the Future of Europe
  • Wepke Kingma | Special Envoy for the Conference on the Future of Europe at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Netherlands
  • Clément Beaune | State Secretary for European Affairs, France

When? Thursday, 17th March 2022, 17:30 – 19:00 Uhr

Register here: https://t1p.de/ludz8

In his special edition of Europe Calling we teamed up with other organizations of European civil society to highlight this key question. That’s the team: Citizens Take Over Europe, European University Institute-STG Democracy Forum, Europe Calling, Mehr Demokratie, Pulse of Europe.

Interpretation is provided in English, German and French.

Join us and invite others!

With European wishes,

Maximilian Fries and everyone at Europe Calling