The Conference on the Future of Europe and Political Families: Pushing for Reform

Abstract

The Conference on the Future of Europe brought together politicians and citizens across the European Union to discuss the future of integration. While designed as a bottom-up forum for listening to citizens, it offered an opportunity for the Europarties to advance their own objectives. This chapter examines how successful the three largest Europarties were in shaping the agenda, debates, and final outcome of the Conference, particularly regarding institutional reform. Inside the Parliament, the EP political groups formed large coalitions behind parliamentary resolutions calling for stronger EU level democracy. Europarties in turn remained throughout the process in a smaller role, while the political foundations contributed actively with events and various documents. Content analysis of the positions of the Europarties confirms their continued support for supranational democracy but shows also interesting variation in their more detailed objectives.