19:57 22 May 2022
EU must convince member states to make changes to treaties
There are many indications that the recommendations coming out of the Conference on the Future of Europe will require changes to the EU treaties. While this is supported by, among others, the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, opposition is expressed by some member states.
As the Polish Press Agency reported, 13 EU countries, including Poland, published a joint letter opposing "thoughtless and premature attempts to start the process of treaty change." The letter was issued in response to recommendations stemming from the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE), the EU's first experiment in deliberative democracy. Implementation of some of them requires amending EU treaties.
The representatives of the states pointed out that while they believe the Conference facilitated dialogue with citizens across Europe, any decisions concerning the EU must be taken within the framework of the division of competences established by the EU treaty, and changing it was never the aim of the Conference."
At the same time, they stressed that the way the EU has handled crises in recent years – the COVID-19 pandemic or Russia's attack on Ukraine – has shown that the EU can achieve much within the current treaty framework.
