Athens, 9 February 2022

Meeting of MEPs and MPs in framework of Conference on Future of Europe

Ways to strengthen European democracy, the introduction of a permanent mechanism to strengthen the participatory process for European citizens, the need for public consultation on EU policies, as well as the Union’s policy priorities were the issues that MEPs and MPs had on the agenda at today’s meeting of the Conference on the Future of Europe. The Hellenic Parliament was represented, via remote participation, by Dimitris Kairidis, Ioannis Bournous and George Papandreou.

Mr Kairidis, on the occasion of the crisis in Ukraine expressed Greece’s solidarity towards any country threatened by authoritarian regimes that do not respect human rights, but stressed that the solidarity and sensitivity that the EU shows towards third states must finally be shown towards a member state under occupation, Cyprus.

Mr Bournous emphasised that the lack of accountability of the EU institutions and the limited powers of the European Parliament have led to a lack of trust by citizens and to the prevailing of national interests of the more powerful members states and expressed his support for the recommendation made by citizens to hold Europe-wide referenda and for the citizens to participate in the decision-making process.

Mr Papandreou expressed his full support for the creation of a permanent consultation mechanism with citizen participation, stressing that such a mechanism will make a decisive contribution to the restoring the relationship of trust between the institutions and the citizens, giving them a voice on critical issues that concern them. He argued that Europe should experiment to find the right process, such as citizens’ assemblies, the creation of an electronic platform-“market”, or any other means.

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