Athens, 1 May 2022

Hellenic Parliament delegation at 7th Plenary of Conference on the Future of Europe

A Hellenic Parliament delegation comprising MPs Dimitris Kairidis, Ioannis Kefalogiannis and Ioannis Bournous participated in the seventh and last Plenary Session of the Conference on the Future of Europe held on 29 and 30 April in Strasbourg.

The work was carried out at the level of the Plenary, the political groups and the four components of the conference, consisting of representatives of the EU Council, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the national Parliaments.

Mr Kairidis addressed the Conference Plenary twice, in his capacity as co-chair of the Migration Working Group and as representative of the component of national parliaments on the same issue.

During his first statement, Mr Kairidis bowed with respect before the heroic people of Ukraine, fighting for freedom and dignity, noting that their struggle is also ours. He then thanked all those who contributed to the success of the Working Group on Migration, saying he felt proud both as Chair and as an MP and European citizen for the quality of the proposals submitted to the Plenary. Taking stock of the overall work of the Working Group, he referred to the objectives that the citizens focused on, in particular the protection of the EU’s external borders, the respect for human rights, the implementation of common rules for the reception of migrants, the review of the European asylum system, based on the principles of solidarity and equitable sharing of responsibilities and the improvement of integration policies. Finally, he welcomend the fact that the final proposals by the working group reflect the recommendations of the citizens, achieving a balance between conflicting views on such a polarising issue as they focus on the most consensual positions, with an ambitious and innovative approach.

In his second speech, Mr Kairidis saluted the French people, who in the recent presidential elections wisely chose the European perspective, voting against the “narrow-minded” forces of nationalism and populism and giving perspective to the future of Europe, which is being discussed at this conference. Taking stock of the conference’s work, he emphasised the importance of engaging national parliaments in the conference, noting that the interaction with colleagues from other national parliaments, the European institutions and especially the citizens was instructive and constructive. Responding to hints about representation at the conference, Mr Kairidis emphasised that the component of the national parliaments – where representation cannot be called into question – agreed on the proposals on migration, emphasising two points: more Europe and more coordination in managing migration and better guarding of external borders, without compromising the respect for human rights.

In his speech during the Plenary Session, Mr Kefalogiannis noted that the conference proved to be revealing in terms of the dynamics that prevail within the EU, emphasising that the real enemy of the Union is Euroscepticism, nationalism and populism, the individuals, political groups – even the Member States – which act as an obstacle to the EU’s course with their counterproductive stance. Subsequently, he continued, citizen support for the abolition of the unanimity rule is completely understandable, although this does not mean that his development would improve the effectiveness of the EU decision-making process, especially in the sensitive area of foreign policy. Mr Kefalogiannis underlined that the EU must promote solidarity between partners and respect for the sensitivities of the member states, which are not necessarily self-evident to all. In this light and in order to satisfy the clear request by the citizens for change in this field, Mr Kefalogiannis proposed the adoption of the necessary guarantees, which will allow the member states to proceed with enhanced majority procedures. Summing up, he stressed that it is a challenge for politicians to find a way to implement the proposals of the citizens, a challenge, however, which leaves no room for failure.

At the meeting of the component of the national parliaments which took place on the morning of Friday 29/4, in order for the representatives of the national parliaments to define their position on all proposals, as one of the four pillars of the Conference on the Future of Europe, Mr Bournous took the floor. Referring to the criticism by a small number of representatives of national parliaments on the content of the proposals by the Citizens’ Group, he made it clear that it is the duty of the representatives of national parliaments at this stage to agree on the inclusion of the entire package of proposals made by the citizens in the report on the conclusions that will be drawn up by the Conference’s Executive Board, despite disagreements on the content of some of the proposals.

Regarding the same representatives’ criticism of the curtailing of national sovereignty based on the Conference’s proposals, he pointed out the voluntary nature of accession to the European Union and the recognition in advance by interested states that by joining the EU they share part of their national sovereignty.

He called on all participating representatives of national parliaments to reflect on the collective work that has taken place in the last year, especially of the citizens, who, as both their proposals and the Eurobarometer surveys show, call for profound changes in the EU’s functioning and expect the Conference to promote such changes. To that point, he said: “Citizens, therefore, should not be given the wrong message, especially by national parliaments, that their ambitions to change the way the EU works are not taken into account”.

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