The Council eventually agreed on its position on the Conference on the Future of Europe.

Despite being more conservative, it essentially confirms the nature of the blueprint put forward by the EP (12/19) and Comm (01/20)

#CoFoE’s launch IMMINENT via Joint Declaration THREAD

When compared with the EP/Comm templates, the Council differs as:

1. No commitment to revise EU Treaties (EP did)

2. No reference to institutional reform (electoral law, SpitzenK)

3. Tripartite management (Sassoli+vdl+Michel) 2/

When compared with the EP/Comm templates, the Council confirms :

1 EU-led consultation exercised jointly by 3 institutions

2 List of issues, but open to ‘other topics’

3 No direct involvement of civil society, but

-multilingual digital platform(s)
-citizens’ panels MS+pan-EU

Overall feeling is that through #CoFoE, the 3 institutions are entering into unchartered territory.

This per se might reveal the most promising aspect of an otherwise top-down, disappointingly-designed exercise 4/

When compared with original Franco-German non-paper, the Council position definitely appears less ambitious #cofoe