 Dear colleagues, good morning. We will start now our third day of our plenary, our morning session. And before we resume our work, I want to inform you that the electronic vote on the opinion discussed today will start at 10.50, 10.50 Brussels time. Please ensure that you are present in the room, all connected and ready to vote by then. The voting time is scheduled to take place until 11.20 a.m. Brussels time. So let us now start with our debate on the conference on the future of Europe. Dear Vice President Suica, dear Dubravka, welcome. It is really my honor to welcome you here today in our plenary. And first of all, I would like to thank you for your exceptional work as co-chair of the conference on the future of Europe and to admit publicly that I consider you as one of the closest friends and allies of the Committee of Regents and of the regional and local authorities all across Europe. Your help has been of utmost importance. And this not only in words, which we are used to in Brussels, but in actions. And so I thank you. With each and every action that we undertake, it is very obvious that we have a very good collaboration with the Commissioner. And I want to reassure you once again, Commissioner, that all 18 plus 12 members of the regional and local delegation to the conference on the future of Europe, coming both from our house and other regions and cities all across Europe, will work hard for its success. And allow me to underline the fact that similarly, and in addition to the elected members of the national and European parliaments, our members representing the 1.1 million regional and local leaders in 300 regions and 90,000 municipalities by the nature of their elective mandates also represent citizens in a politically accountable manner. And this is very important. For the basis of our legitimacy to directly engage with the main European institutions throughout the works of this conference is more in line with the actual powers of our members on the ground, rather than the treaty-based limitations that we have in our institutions. As a former mayor and a former member of the European Parliament, I'm sure that you understand our political line. And I'm also sure that you know that we will work tirelessly putting the people and their real needs first as they put their trust in us through their vote to make their lives better. For that to happen, we need to make sure that the conference will go beyond Brussels, beyond Strasbourg, and beyond the city capitals. And this is our strong commitment and our determination to listen to the people in the places they live in and bring their voices back here to Brussels. As an example, I want to share with you the enthusiasm and the engagement of the young elected leader from Marano Lagunare, who called for permanent local dialogues with citizens during our recent event, which was organized in the regional parliament of Frully, Venice, at Giulia in Trieste. In this context, I would like to reaffirm our readiness to develop a network of regional and local EU councillors that goes beyond the COR members in order to reinforce citizen engagement via the one million elected politicians. Now, let me thank you again for the support you have shown to this project via the open letter that was signed on the 9th of May in Strasbourg. And as agreed with you, Vice President, we wish to seek synergies with the Belly project proposed by the European Parliament for a greater impact throughout the union. I trust that your team in the commission and our team here will work closely for this successful implementation. And at the same time, we will work on promoting our democratic values via education so that we can explain to the young people and to our children why the European Union should exist today and in the future. Because, after all, Commissioner, this is what we believe. Our common house needs to be further consolidated by reinforcing the trust of our people in a values-based democracy that delivers results that promotes fundamental values and, above all, that respects the rule of law. So, dear Commissioner, dear Dabrafka, the floor is yours. Thank you, Aposfalos. Good morning to everybody. They are members of the European Committee of the Regions, dear ladies and gentlemen. As former mayor, what you said, Mr. Cicostas, it is always pleasure for me to be here to have the opportunity to exchange the views with you, with the members of the European Committee of the Regions. And perhaps never more so at this moment when the conference on the future of Europe has entered a particularly interesting phase. Your commitment to bringing Europe closer to its people and in reinforcing European democracy at all levels of government, most importantly from the very roots, is greatly appreciated and indeed very necessary. I have said it before and I will say it again today. Without your involvement and without your dedication, the conference could not fulfill its potential in reaching out to every citizen from the mountains to the islands. I share your vision and commitment and from day one as Vice President of the European Commission in charge of democracy and demography. I have invested all my energy in citizens' empowerment and engagement. This is because I am convinced that this is crucial to ensure that people are an integral part of the policymaking process. And of course you are a valuable part in making this a reality. While I am most interesting in hearing from you today, I would like to share some reflections on where we stand today. The platform is close to reaching four million individual users. Over 30,000 participants have registered to contribute individually with ideas and comments. Most importantly, 130,000 citizens have already participated in over more than 3,000 conference events announced on the platform. Many of these events have involved you, the members of the European Committee of the Regions. With this platform, we have torn down language barriers and for the first time we have launched a truly pan-European debate with citizens from all 27 member states. The numbers are promising, but it is certainly not yet enough and we must continue our awareness-raising and communication efforts. This week we published the second interim report on the activities on the platform in time to be taken into consideration by the upcoming plenary, which is next week. It is important to draw appropriate conclusions from these reports and how we can step up and target our communication better. I think in particular of the importance to improve the participation of young people, women and people living in rural areas. I believe members of the Committee of the Regions are uniquely placed to help us to achieve broader engagement with these target audiences. I invite each one of you to take a few minutes to visit this platform because it is only when you see it, you can believe what a powerful tool we have placed at the disposal to our citizens. Since 17th of September, a number of randomly selected citizens have been spending their weekends in Strasbourg. This is for me the really exciting and innovative part of the process. The start of the European citizen panels has moved the conference into a new phase. Three of the four European citizens panels have had the first session in which they have familiarized themselves with the topics raised on the platform and identified the issues they wish to discuss in depth in the remaining two sessions. These are regular people aged 16 to 85 who have agreed to take time out from their jobs and their families to take on the responsibility of participating in the panels and they are doing this with admirable dedication. Initial feedback from the panels is that although quite a number of them were initially skeptical, they feel honored to participate in this unique exercise and are pleasantly surprised to be given this opportunity for their voice to be heard. Their engagement is impressive given that almost none of them have ever participated in this type of event before. So far I have observed online from afar but I am looking forward to going to Strasbourg tomorrow morning to welcome the participants in the fourth panel on the European Union in the world and migration. So it will start tomorrow afternoon at 2 o'clock. All of us as politicians have a great deal of experience with citizens engagement but have you ever had the occasion to hear the voice of a 16-year-old student from Romania, a newly graduated Finn, a young mother from Italy and an 85-year-old retired German at the same time. This is where there is added value for policymakers. This is how we are strengthening our representative democracy. We have provided multiple entry points for the citizens to participate on the one hand through the multilingual digital platform and on the other through the European citizens panels and the conference plenary. Indeed it is in the plenary where citizens participate on a par or on an equal footing with elected representatives from all levels of governance including the local and regional to discuss with civil society and social partners. I firmly believe that the combination of these various entry points makes more voices and more perspectives heard than any entity could on its own. I see a special role for representatives of the regional and local level. Because in the 27 member states of the European Union, you said, Apostolos, there are more than 1 million, 1 million point one politicians who are elected at sub-national level. Being very close to the citizens, local elected politicians as you are have a privileged position in making a connection between what is often called distant Europe or distant Brussels and the issue that resonates the most at the local level. This is very important. In this regard, I was impressed to see the latest Eurobarometer flash survey that this committee has commissioned. It offers some unique insights into the views of local politicians and their engagement in the conference as well as the importance they attach to the nine priority teams of the conference. Your long standing experience and commitment on citizens' engagement in particular is an important source of reflection for all of us on how to involve as many citizens as possible in the debate. Some of you could have a special role in this by ensuring that EU matters are reflected at the local and regional level and that information on European issues is available in town halls across the European Union. I am aware that there are discussions on this and I believe that developing idea could itself be a contribution to the conference because it brings the European Union closer to citizens. So we are in favour of creating this activity which you announced. We made a strong commitment to follow up on the recommendations. This was recently confirmed again by President von der Leyen in the State of the Union speech. In the immediate future, the first round of European citizens' panels will finish this coming weekend. With the end of the agenda setting, discussions in the panels will focus even more on concrete tangible deliberations. The plenary meeting on the 23rd of October will be a good occasion to bring together the different components and show our collective commitment to citizens. Our discussions will evolve around the European citizens' panels and the multilingual digital platform and we will hear reports from national citizens' panels and national events which are important contributions to this process. We will also hear about the European youth event which also brought thousands of young people together under the umbrella of this conference. We are already preparing for the next phase where after the deliberations we will have the recommendations and proposals which the executive board of the conference will draw up into the final report. We will formulate the report in full transparency and full collaboration with the plenary, including the participating members of this Committee of the Regions. Without pre-empting any outcome, I will say already now that it is important that citizens can recognise themselves and their efforts in that report. I would also like to take this opportunity to say a few words about our work on demography. We are very much looking forward to working together with you on the implementation of our long-term vision for rural areas. We are now working on the roadmap and the launch of Rural Pact. For this we need your continued support especially because rural areas cannot enjoy further development unless they are connected, well-connected between each other and to peri-urban and urban areas. To close this existing digital gap, we need governance that is engaged at all levels. We need a mix of policy that can cater for the various needs which are often shared between urban and rural areas. In this context, I believe that the collaborative and participative approach can help to develop strategies that are comprehensive, integrated and effective. To close the digital gap, we need an engaged governance at all levels and policy mixes that cater for the interdependencies between urban and rural areas. In this context, using collaborative and participatory approaches can help to develop integrated strategies. Another dimension we want to address together with you is the one our population decline and brain drain. Many European regions experience the phenomenon of depopulation and we want to offer them solutions that are tailor-made to their needs because there is no universal solution. To conclude, dear ladies and gentlemen, I take this opportunity to again thank you sincerely for the many and varied contributions of Committee of the Regions to the conference, including the latest barometer and the work of the high-level group on European democracy. You know that more than many others, I know that local and regional politicians are best connected to their constituency. Indeed, it is through democracy at the local level that we truly strengthen our democracies and we must continue our efforts to give a voice to sub-national governance. We will count on you in our upcoming work on making our democracy fit for the future. The conference helps us to acknowledge that the way we engage with citizens has been transformed and we need to address this in partnership with you. Dear ladies and gentlemen, this is only the beginning. I truly believe that in the future those studying European democracy will look at it from the perspective of a pre- and post-conference period. The democratic life of the European Union will never be the same again and we are all richer for it. I want to thank you again and for your close relationship and now I'm ready and I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Vice President. Vice President Suitsha, we had a very clear understanding of your position with the conference on the future of Europe and of the work that's been done there. I have to admit that a lot of things have been done in very short time period but this is how we need to move as you said correctly Vice President quickly and successfully. So dear colleagues, it is now time to start our debate with Vice President Suitsha. I would like to give the floor to Mark Speich from the EPP. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Thank you very much, Mrs. Vice President, dear colleagues and colleagues. The conference on the future of Europe was and is connected with great expectations and although it started half a year ago, it took a while until the processes were really clear. I am now happy that we will finally have the working group meetings in the coming weeks before the Klanar meeting and in the actual work of the conference. The end point of this conference is still defined for the spring of the next year and many questions are whether this time will actually be enough. I think one has to take a new look at this question. If it is about the expectations, the opinions, the hopes and ideas of the citizens of Europe to win for the future of Europe, then I think this process will be enough, but it will not be enough just to listen to it. You will also have to give answers and so actually a second phase of the process begins and it has to start in the next spring and this phase I have to focus on the question of the change of the institutional architecture, maybe on the question of contractual changes if that should be necessary, but it has to and that's why I am grateful to you, Ms. Commissioner, for having said that there is a post-conference phase and I say very clearly for the COA, we are happy to have been part of the first phase, but we have also agreed to be part of the second phase and this future of Europe, also in its institutional expansion, to be formed. Thank you very much, Mark. The floor now to Miss Durkiewicz, please, from the IPP. I would like to thank the leaders of our cities and regions and very important role in informing about what is being done in the matter of values, but also the future of the European Union. It is also very important that it could be not so long ago the director of our opinion, the opinion of the region about the European package of actions on the issue of democracy, which has been thoroughly pre-discorded by us and I hope that the next solutions will be reflected. We are in support of each other, because this is a very important matter for the future, not only of our local communities, but also of strong local communities in the united Europe, so that democracy and values, which we sometimes have, as well as in my country, in Poland, have developed and have continued. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Miss Onenow, from the PES Group. Mr. President, Mr. President, Mrs. Vice President, in the name of the SPE Group, I thank you for today talking to us about the conference on the future of Europe. The conference is a great chance to put the European Union on a even stronger foundation for its citizens and citizens to set the foundation and to advance the European reform process. That is why it is in the interest of all friends and friends of the European integration project that the conference also delivers results in the end. The conference on the future of Europe had a wooden start. Until the opening, it took a long time. Many framework conditions were only cleared step by step. In addition, the process and the transition with the later results of the conference have not yet been clearly communicated. However, and there we are as social democrats and social democrats, the conference continues to be able to be fundamentally optimistic and I would say must the conference be a success. Important are here for two points. First of all, we have to act transparently and transparently at any time. Therefore, I would like to welcome the decision, for example, the results of the first days of the next week to hold working groups and to publish them on the digital platform of the conference. On the other hand, we have to make sure that the ideas and suggestions of the citizens and citizens in the end also actually flow into the results of the conference. Everything else would lead to the thought-provoking process absurdly and damage the credibility of the European Union. The citizens and citizens have to experience that their ideas flow into the further process and they can actively participate in the future of the European Union. It is about a union that is more than just a business space, a union that strengthens identity and social unity and a union that is carried out by its citizens and citizens. Dear colleagues and dear colleagues, finally, it is really starting now. In the meantime, more than 8,000 ideas of the citizens and citizens have already entered the digital platform of the conference. The various European citizens have been there for days and soon the working groups of the Plenar Collection will also record their work. Before this background, I am very happy to be able to introduce the German country, the Bundesrat, to the Plenar Collection of the Conference and to be able to introduce me to the upcoming contential debate. But I am particularly curious about the question of how the role of the region can continue to be strengthened. But of course, there are many other important topics that can and should be brought forward by the debate within the conference. These are, for example, the maintenance of the climate crisis and a fair transition, also with the help of the new experience of the UN sustainability goals on the EU level, the economic transformation towards climate neutrality with the help of the European Green Deal, which must also provide a socially secured transition, the digitalisation, the design of a social and fairer Europe, as well as the preservation and strengthening of the basic values of the European Union, be it with regard to the preservation of the rule of law, to the equality between men and women, to the rights of LGBTIQ people or to a human-like migration policy. The conference is a great opportunity to address these key issues with new plans and good ideas and to make the European Union even better applied by its citizens and citizens for the future. Thank you very much, President, and on behalf of the Renew Europe Group, I would like to thank Vice President Switzer for being with us here today and sharing her impressions. And now I'll continue in Basque, my intervention. You understand that the European Union is a very important country and it's a very important country. I would like to thank you very much for being here today, President, and on behalf of the Renew Europe Group, and on behalf of the Renew Europe Group, for being here today and sharing your impressions. I would like to thank you very much for being here today and sharing your impressions. Thank you very much. I would like to thank you very much for being here today and sharing your impressions. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. Branda from the ECR, our next speaker please. Dear Madam Commissioner, dear colleagues, I would like to take this chance to actually share with you the results of our work as COR in one of the very important topics and it is the topic of cross-border cooperation. This topic is not specifically mentioned within the conference, but it is a cross-cutting theme affecting daily lives of more than one-third of EU citizens living in border regions. As you probably know, our last plenary in July, we've adopted a resolution on the future of cross-border cooperation that we feel should be an integral part of the discussion within the conference on the future of Europe. There are several prerequisites to be met for the cross-border cooperation to develop further in the future and the first one are open borders, something that maybe we have taken for granted in last years, but through the pandemic we witnessed almost a shock. When visiting Austria, we had an event in the Eurigen-Trentino, Tirol South Tirol, two weeks ago. I was reminded of my personal memory as a child crossing the Iron Curtain from Czechoslovakia with my grandfather who was born in Austria to enter Austria. It was such a strong experience, you know, about virus and several checks and the fear and I thought, you know, after entering the EU and entering the Schengen area that this endeavor to open the border is done and it's done forever and I thought I will never experience the coast borders again, but we witnessed it all in last months. So I think for the cross-border cooperation to have any future at all, we need to keep the borders open. Our great endeavor I think should be to keep the borders open and never again allowing the closure of borders, I mean, never again. So that's why the most important point of our resolution is that we call on the European Commission to present a proposal for maintaining cross-border cooperation and cross-border life in the event of an EU-wide and regional crisis, like for example the pandemic. This proposal should envisage that internal EU borders will be kept open ensuring the free movement of people and the delivery of cross-border public services and guaranteeing the full and smooth functioning of the single market and the Schengen area. There are several other points I wanted to make, but I don't have time so this was the main one, so I hope that we will be able to reach these goals and actually increase the quality of daily lives of citizens living in border regions. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr Van Loove from the EA Group, please. Thank you, President. Thank you, colleagues, Commissari Suidza. Thank you very much for your very interesting introduction. I think it's very important that we can have a debate about the future conference here in our Committee of Regions. I hope that the future conference will not only be one big event of public relations, but also the big equalization that there will always be more centralisation coming from Europe. As part of a regional parliament, the Flemish parliament, you yourself, in the plenary meeting of the future conference, will be able to hear a clear sound. Namely, I am a member of the European Union, who is committed to creating a real value for the Europeans, for the citizens, but also for the companies, the organisations. I must make sure that the internal market will further strengthen the strength of our well-being and of our well-being. Not a super-state that does not respect the subsidiarity but that pleads for a diverse Europe, a united Europe, but also in diversity, respect for the diversity within our European Union. Also keeping in mind the diversity of states that also have significant opportunities, keeping in mind the various regions, the local governments, which are all close to the citizens. But also a union that the democratic and legitimate citizens want to live in their own autonomous state within the European Union respects. A union that gives opportunities, for example, to Catalans, Corsicans, Flemish or so many other regions to reach the European Union through an internal expansion, so that they get their autonomy in a legal and democratic way. That is almost my wish for the future conference, but also for many Europeans living in many regions and shared states within our European Union. I thank you. Thank you very much. Ms. Aras, please. Dear Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, after a long discussion, the conference in May of this year has finally begun with a year of delay. On the 22nd and 23rd of October, the second meeting will take place in Strasbourg. I will take part in this for the ADR. Unfortunately, the working groups, as you have said, will still not be able to work. The first exchange with the citizens and the citizens from the citizen panels would have been extremely important. And at the end of the first quarter of 2022, the results should be very clear. I ask myself, how should this go? And I think that, to be honest, everything else is more than permanent. And the time has come for us and our results to reach this stage. Because what is the idea of the future conference? But especially that we will come more with the citizens and the citizens into the conversation and hear which Europe they want. For this, the direct participation of all citizens and citizens in all formats of the conference is decisive. We have to discuss and debate the results of the joint work. We have to prioritize them, evaluate them, and check their effectiveness. I think that is extremely important. Because we, the representatives in the regions and municipalities, are close to the citizens and citizens. We are the bridge to Europe and can make their voices heard. And we want that, too. In Baden-Württemberg, we have already had very good experiences. I myself, as president of the country, have successfully carried out a citizens forum to the organized pensions. And that was certainly not very easy. I would like to link that. On October 28th, I will start a citizens forum in the country of Baden-Württemberg. I would like to know from young citizens and citizens between 16 and 30 years what their idea of the future of Europe is. I wish that we can make a contribution to the success of the conference. If we do not create it together, the future conference will be a success. And then, on a temporary basis, it would be special to continue. Then frustration is programmed on a broad level. Then we confirm the judgment that the EU is a mole. That must not happen. Thank you very much. Mr. Vasco Cordero, our first Vice President, please. First of all, I would like to address a very close friend, Mrs. Commissioner, Mrs. Vice President, to greet her for her work and for her decisive role in recognizing the importance of the committee as a privileged interlocutor in the context of the conference in what it has to do with the local and regional powers of Europe. I would like to share an observation and put two or three questions. The observation has to do with an aspect that seems decisive to me in the way we face and position ourselves in the question of the escultation of citizens. This aspect is decisive. Having informed citizens and participating is an aspect that nobody, absolutely nobody can doubt. But it is essential that we do not believe in the idea that somehow if we oppose a direct democracy that is representative democracy that we have here. And this aspect seems important because it is not because of the fact that the conference on the future of Europe connects directly to this process of escultation of citizens that it is more democratic or that this process is more democratic than the process in which the democratically elected representatives of the local and regional authorities of the time discuss the conference on the future of Europe. I repeat, nobody doubts the importance and the value of the escultation of citizens. But I think it is dangerous to create the idea that we oppose a direct democracy exercise to a representative democracy. The questions that I would like to put to your consideration, Mr. Commissioner, have to do with the following. First, here we hear the ambition of the Committee of Regions in relation to the day after. How is Mr. Commissioner and how does the Commission see our role? The role of the Committee of Regions in the next day of the conference on the future of Europe. Second, also to say that the question of the dialogue with the citizens cannot be just and despite all the cauldrons that I mentioned earlier or observations, if I say so, it cannot be an exercise that ends with the conference on the future of Europe. In what it brings of increased value of information of an informed European citizens excluded, it must continue beyond that. I remember, for example, the idea that the former President of the Committee of Regions, Karla Ines Lumberts and the Committee on Economic and Social presented to see in the end this permanent dialogue with the citizens. It would also be nice to consider, of course, to hear Mr. Commissioner about these aspects. Finally, a lot has been said about the importance of all of us pronouncing about the way a European Union can work better and if that implies an alteration of treaties. And if for the European Union it works better, we had to change some treaties. How to see this possibility? Thank you very much once again, Mr. Commissioner for your contribution and for your work. Thank you, Vice President. Mr. Woop, please, our next speaker. Mr. Vice President of Switzerland, ladies and gentlemen, the Conference on the Future of Europe gives a unique opportunity for the citizens and citizens to participate in the reform and renewal of the European Union. It is our job as members to encourage the citizens to participate in this debate and to set boundaries on the digital platform. Berlin is also making a contribution here. We support the actors of the civil society to make a contribution in the discussions and we organize ourselves a citizen dialogue in the Parliament of Berlin. We want to develop suggestions for a fair and social Europe. I think the experience shows that the debate has come to an end and it would be a shame if it were to be breached. I think it would be good if we had an intermediate report in the spring and then give a extension to the discussion. I think it would be valuable to check the suggestions intensively to allow the whole process to be breached. Thank you. Ms. Fernandez-Viana, please. You have the floor. Good morning, dear commissioner. I am part of the delegation of the European Commission in the Conference on the Future of Europe and at the beginning of October I have organized the Parliament of Cantabria the first parliamentary meeting with the participation of the main institutions of the region representatives of the civil society to debate on the future of Europe. The conclusions of the three days of this civil debate have been collected in a manifesto that we have called Cantabria in Europe and that we will present in Brussels. The main objective that we have representatives of the Committee of the Regions is to try to reinforce the role of the local and regional centres in the European democracy and the functioning of the European Union. The pandemic has presented the urgency that the local and regional centres occupy a central position to achieve a more democratic and close union to the citizens and, above all, to respond to their needs. We are asking for a greater weight of the European Committee of the Regions in the decision-making of the European Union since, although the modifications introduced as everyone knows in the Lisbon Treaty allowed us to have a more inclusive presence in all classes of the European Union process, we believe that the time has come to highlight that it happens to be a predominantly constructive forum whose instruments are not linked to being in a real representation camera territorial in the decision-making processes. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Mr. Bock, you have the floor. Mr. President, dear Commissioner, Jean Monnet wrote in 1950 Europe has never existed. We must genuinely create Europe. It must become manifesto itself and it must have confidence in its own future. Dear Commissioner, I do believe that the conference on the future of Europe is exactly about that, the confidence in our own future. We should not be afraid to tell our citizens that democracy is not perfect. To have a crisis is not the end of democracy, but the real problem in democracy is the capacity to solve problems based on clear rules and in an effective and a functional Europe. The best politics is the politics of solving people's problems. I will end with a comment of Jean Monnet, very well known, better to work around the table than on a better field. We have also discussed a table on the battle field. Thank you very much, Mr. President. You are absolutely right, Mr. Prime Minister. Mr. Wedel now. Please. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Dear Mr. Vice President, dear colleagues and colleagues, the conference on the future is in full swing. Unfortunately, there are still too few people in Europe to meet. We have to change that. In particular, there are local and regional physicalities in particular. We in the North Rhine West continue to develop the European Union. The country's government has a unique participation process for the conference on the future of Europe. In an online consultation about Make.org, citizens can easily and without experts know their opinion on the future development of the European Union. The North Rhine West also has a European-Buried Dialogue in November on the European mobility policy of Europe's global role and citizens. In view of the North Rhine West young people have to take part at the conference on the future of Europe and take part in its activities in the sense of the year of the European Youth of 2022. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. Armau. You have the floor. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Mr. Cobor. You have the floor. Thank you, Mr. President. We know that our people, our citizens have very antagonistic feeling for the European community. We know that our citizens have very antagonistic feeling for the European community. We know that our citizens have very antagonistic feeling for the European Union. It is a mixture of expectation, very big expectation sometime, and skepticism. If we don't bring close to the citizens this conference and this organization we will lose. Skepticism will win and extremistic old-fashioned nationalistic and identity political tendencies come to the fore. Therefore, local events are very important. Please support these them as it possible. For instance, in our city page among the students there is a very big tradition of political debate competition. This is an open event and we want to organize them this event for the conference Future of Europe. Thank you. Miss Kiffer, the floor is yours. Miss Magyar. Thank you very much. Mr. Karakzoni, you have the floor. Thank you very much. Mr. Karakzoni, you have the floor. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Mr. Karakzoni, you have the floor. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. I am happy that the discussion on the future of Europe continues. I have been so afraid that much as in many The average monthly salary of 400 to 450 euros is much lower than the amount of the future conference. More on the question of how to make the EU citizens closer. So that you can compare the big economic differences between West and East. So that social inequalities are raised. So that you can talk about the real problems of Europe. And then the EU, these problems are solved. This is the task. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Ms. Rickmans, please. Thank you, Mr. President. I would like to thank Madam Suica for her exposure. I would like to remind you of the importance of youth in mobilization for the climate. We also know the will of citizens to preserve the planet and its biodiversity. And we know the desire of the youth to transmit a still viable planet to their children. So we understand the importance of Europe to build a post-COVID society, a post-inundation society, on solidarity, on a renewed impact with citizens and citizens. We have seen and I represent the glass at the Committee of Regions, but also the Sena Belge at the Conference for the Future of Europe. What I see are the youth involved, with a lot of enthusiasm. The Conference for the Future of Europe has the merit of opening this debate, to create the conditions of a exchange between citizens and us, the decision makers, on the European level that impacts us all. So this exchange must be done with seriousness, with transparency and with anticipation. And I would like Madam Vice-President to make sure that the orders of the day and the content of the working groups are prepared in full consultation with the citizens and the citizens who are expressed in the panels, that they also adopt methods of expression and collective intelligence. I hope that this will really be the case so that the participative democracy really transcends itself with this deliberative democracy and that the solutions are built collectively. Thank you. Thank you very much, Madam. Mr. Bereni, please, you have the floor. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Madam Commissioner, we used to say that Europe is about values. And it's true, and we used to say that one of the most important values are the solidarity. However, when it comes to the concrete question, there is a division among us and it's obvious that there is a division. For example, when we talk about what countries are important for us, probably there is a different view from east and south and north and west of Europe. When we're talking about different interest groups, when we're talking about different minorities, religious groups, there is a difference among us. What should be the content of the solidarity? However, if we take on board another value, which is the tolerance among each other, then we can solve the issues. Obviously, the third very important issue is the functionality of the European Union. These two major, I would say, values like solidarity and tolerance has to be played according to the functionality of Europe. For me, the conference about Europe is also about finding a reasonable balance in between solidarity, functionality and tolerance. Thank you. Thank you very much. Is Ms. Kieffer connected now? Hello. Yes, go ahead. Go ahead. Thank you. You are the connection of Europe to its citizens and citizens. We all, dear colleagues and colleagues, have to agree that this important role will be carried out by corresponding member rights at the conference on the future of Europe. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Mr. Khranich, please. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Greetings to the citizens of Switzerland. Here we know, when we talk about the future of Europe, that it is one of the elements of security of the European Union. Obviously, I am coming from the same country from which our confidence, actually from the border of the European Union, an important role here in the European Union, in the region of the Western Balkans in the European Union. We are aware that we have a lot of support from the political parties that have started these lands. As far as the entry into the European Union, it is necessary for the EU to become a member of the country. Here the question of security is raised, which has been raised for several months from the great supporter. We also have Montenegro, Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina. It is very difficult. We are coming to some joint solutions. How much will we succeed in this conference in the future of Europe, to include all these countries, especially young people in these countries, to accept it at the beginning of the European Union and to try to force its political elite to enter into the European Union before accepting it at the beginning of the European Union and, of course, we all want to enter into the European Union before our European citizen, the Western Balkans and the European Union. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. McDonnell, our last intervention for this debate. Good morning from Gower, President, and thank you for the opportunity to speak on the future of Europe. I was delighted that I was able to do my opinion last October and that it was unanimously adopted. And the most important thing I would say to everybody is that we must get the trust of everybody. We must make sure that our citizens understand or communicate with or listen to and respond to. This is the most crucial part of whatever we do with the future of Europe, that we set up the network that I proposed in the opinion that we engage with the system and feed the information that all 27 countries get at the meetings they held to hold with the system. And we go back, even if we have to return and tell the system that, yes, this is a government problem, not an EU problem, we must go back and engage with the system and tell them why we will be able to do what they want or why we cannot. Everybody must have the trust in the politician and the one most important thing is the local and regional authorities are those areas of politics that the people believe in and all of the parameters that were done even only yesterday we all believe that the local and regional authorities are the nearest to the system and it is crucial that we as the COR members right across Europe engage with them, help them and make them better understand Europe. Karamine Magwath. Thank you very much. Dear Vice President Suitsha, I think that you have now a very good feeling of what our members stand for and what their main issues and thoughts on the conference of the future of Europe are. So I directly give you the floor for your reaction. Thank you very much, President. I was listening carefully and I heard a lot. There were 22 interventions and very different views so I have a really very good overview from a whole political spectrum and not only political but from all regions of Europe. So this was very interesting to listen to you. What I may say and what I understood there are two issues. One is role of local and regional authorities in future after this conference and role of local and regional authorities and Committee of the Regions within the conference. When we talk about the actual state of play, as you know, we were really doing whatever we could in accordance with joint declaration which was signed by three presidents, President of the Commission, President of the Parliament and the President of the Council. So we did a lot and as we said at the beginning 18 members of Committee of the Regions are taking part in this conference plus 12 from different local and regional authorities which they were decided by you. So I think 30 of you is a pretty big number within the procedures. But of course what is the most important is this second part. What will be the results in the end of this conference depends on your engagement, depends on your subscription to multilingual digital platform, depends on organization of different events on local and regional level. So whatever you upload to digital platform will be taken into consideration. So this moment is very important to be actively engaged. Otherwise, there are many questions asked about what is my opinion about this or that. I have many different opinions but it's not the moment to talk about this because I don't want to influence anyone. So we said that we don't want to preempt any results or any outcome of this conference so let us see what will be debated, what will be deliberated, what will be uploaded to the platform and then we will have conclusions in the end. And as we said many of you were talking about inclusion, openness, transparency. So these are key principles of this conference. Inclusion, openness and transparency and this is what we are doing. And nothing is hidden and nothing, the reason why let's go above from the beginning, what is the reason for the organizing such and such a brave democratic exercise. I have to tell you that I don't know any democracy in the world that dared organize such an exercise which is including citizens together with elected representatives on local, regional, national level, European level, together with members of government, together with members of European Commission, civil society on an equal footing. This is very important. We have to use this opportunity if we want to be successful. Of course, I heard what you were saying that there can be expectations of citizens and in the end we would not be able to deliver. So we have to do everything in order to be able in the end to deliver and to make citizens not only feel but make them be part of the drafting process. We want citizens to see that they can influence drafting European policies. This is a very idea of this conference. Of course it is very complex and we spent some time, I must tell you to talk about rules of procedure. So we spent some time and the last decision was on working groups. I think we managed to do this so working groups are to be, they will be established in a week or two and I hope that many of you will participate in different working groups. We still need two chairs from national parliaments, seven chairs already elected or chosen. So terms of procedure were a little bit complex but this is because whole European project is complex. This is first time in history that three institutions work together and no decision can be brought without having consensus. This is something on which we have been doing behind the curtains a lot. Now everything is here so the rules are here and everything depends on engagement and on activity of all of us. I am in charge on behalf of commission but all of us commission is not owner of this conference. Parliament is not owner. The same goes for the council, same goes for the committee of the regions. All of us have ownership, all of us have responsibility and depends on us what the outcome will be in the end. So this is very important to bear in mind. Of course that state of democracy cannot be taken for granted so we have to cherish our democracy. It is not static all of you know so democracy has been evolving or is evolving all the time having in mind development of technologies so all of us have to take pace with development of technology and it has big impact on democracy so this is the reason why we are all the time saying we have to make our democracy fit for the future. This means also that and it depends on all of us. So I think that I am not afraid of what the outcome will be. We said everything is possible. All topics are on the table. We chose nine of them on multilingual digital platform but within these citizen panels there are four different clusters and any topic is welcome so it depends on the interests of our citizens. At the moment we had first internal report on the platform we saw what is, we haven't ranked yet but we saw what are the most interesting topics at the moment climate change and environment first, second European democracy and then at the beginning we thought it will be health issues but regardless of the fact that we are still in the middle of this pandemic wearing all these masks so people are obsessed with the future which means climate change and everything which is also a priority of European Commission at the moment but European democracy is also very high on the agenda of our citizens but it is early to draw any conclusion because we still don't have I think we need to have more citizens more people, not only those who are usually dealing with us and who are usually who are usually within this so-called Brussels bubble we want to burst this bubble we want to, as someone mentioned the Sicily and the islands but there are smaller islands than Sicily so we want to reach any island in Europe and any mountain in Europe regardless of political background or any background of our citizens there are people who doubt in our European project there are people who are skeptical we also want to approach them to see what is the reason for their point of view against European project this is also very important to know nowadays so there are many we are very open nothing is hidden I want to reassure you that we are really working hard trying to reach to each and every citizen and your help is very important because without you we wouldn't be able to reach our citizens when you mentioned that there are more than million elected representatives so all of you have your constituency so there are millions and millions of people whom you can approach and whom you can cover whom you can talk to so this is very important of course nowadays the digital is very important and I was talking about this digital gap digital gap exists since we noticed that most of those who are active on digital platform are from 19 to 39 years old we have to somehow change this because digital literacy is also important we also noticed that there are less than 30% of women and others are men and I don't know so we have to encourage women to take part so young people are there young people are interested and what is very important as you know that third of our citizens panels are comprised of one third of young people when we say young people that means 16 to 25 which means I'm talking about future because someone was mentioning that they will have a bright future the lady who was talking about families and large families of course it's not by coincidence that our recovery and resilience plan is popularly called next generation in you so we are preparing our Europe for next generation but not us maybe here but we together with young people together with them so we cannot I usually say we cannot talk about them without them so we need them because they are creative they have fresh brains they are innovative and we badly need young people together with us but also we have to take into consideration older people because they are also experts they have wisdom they are valuable parts of our society so here comes this intergenerational solidarity so we have to take every one into consideration because when you know that aging is one of the topic which I'm dealing with within my portfolio that we live 10 years more in Europe that means that we have to take everyone into consideration because it is also very important so I was listening to your delivery also there was one not question but deliberation on whether this will harm representative democracy this deliberative democracy or participative democracy I think and this is our definite standpoint so this is only to empower elected members of European parliament members of national parliament so some of them claimed and said we are elected directly so why do we need citizens but we cannot let citizens be without any information for 4 or 5 years waiting for next election so we want them to be active all the time in democratic processes and on top of all we want also to involve children this is very important for us because children we have to teach them from very early childhood to be active participants in democratic procedures and this is for us also very important so I think that I was trying to answer all your questions and your concerns cross border of course this is very important cross border cooperation and I firmly believe that there will be no borders and that for all member states not only for some of them and we are working hard on this and also in European commission in European parliament so this is something which makes us Europeans and our single market is the most precious thing we achieved in European Union especially now when we talk about energy but I don't want to I don't want to start this so transparency, open borders working groups importance and the role I will come to the beginning what is the role of the committee of the regions it will depend on your deliberations and on your input during these panels who knows what will be the outcome of this conference I'm not talking about someone mentioned treaty I'm not opting for changing the treaty because there is enough space within the existing treaty but if citizens opt for that we will be obliged to reply to that call but this is what our president for the line also said in the reiterated this year in the speech of the union but this is not what we are asking citizens for because we think there is enough space within existing treaty but as I said everything is possible so I really want to thank you for your deliberations we are open in European Commission to continue our cooperation and I have very good relations with your president and looking forward to our future cooperation thank you very much before I thank you I would like to show you a video on the conference on the future of Europe the conference on the future of Europe must not become the future of Europe will the people of Europe finally get their say today we want to hear about the Europe our citizens are dreaming of it's time to start building our future together the future of Europe must not become a beauty contest between Brussels and its institutions citizens must no longer feel forgotten neglected or left behind be part of the process so commissioner I want to thank you not only for your time today to be one more time here once again in our plenary but I want to thank you mostly for your dedication your exceptional work in the conference on the future of Europe and I want to reassure you that this house this institution the European Committee of Regions is at your disposal you should consider us as we are your strongest ally and friend and we know very well that in your character in your personality we find also someone who not only believes in the values that we all share since you have served the local level as mayor in the past but also a visionary politician that Europe needs today so thank you very much again for being with us and for your support thank you