 So we can begin our plenary session, okay colleagues, I warmly welcome you, all of you to this hybrid plenary session in person or connected remotely, it is a renewed real pleasure for me to meet some of you in person again, but in order to make this meeting successful and safe for all of us, I remind those of you who are present in the plenary premises to strictly apply the COVID measures, the safety measures as advised by our administration. Those present in the meeting rooms have to wear a mask, covering their nose, mouth and chin at all times. When speaking you are allowed to take off your mask for the length of your statement only. I would also like to thank members joining online for their participation. I would like to thank our COR staff from all directors and my team in the cabinet for putting our house, our European, European Committee of Regents first, for keeping political activities alive, starting new projects despite the difficult times and for organizing our meetings online. Whether in person or in person, without you this would have never been possible. Today, the health situation in Brussels, in Belgium and in most European countries shows a new increase in infections. Together with the administration we continue our efforts to make it possible for those wishing so to participate physically in our statutory meetings in safe conditions. We will keep you informed of the organizational details for the plenary session of January 22 as soon as possible. So dear colleagues, let me start our plenary with the first point in our agenda, which is the adoption of our agenda. If there are no comments, the agenda is adopted. Thank you. We will now proceed to the adoption of the minutes of the last 146th plenary held on the 11th, 12th and 13th of October 21. If there are no comments, the minutes are approved. Thank you very much and adopted. We will now move to the fourth point on our agenda, the debate on strengthening European democracy in the context of the conference on the future of Europe. Dear colleagues, I would like to welcome our distinguished guests, Helman van Rompuy, the chair of the COR High Level Group on European Democracy and former president of the European Council, and Renaud Muselier, president of the Regional Council of Provence Alpe Côte d'Azur, who will debate with us today about European democracy and the future of Europe, and the Slovenian State Secretary Igor Senchar. I also welcome one representative of the citizens within the conference on the future of Europe, Alexander Milisov, Mr. Christian Johan from the European Academy in Berlin, as well as a representative of our YEPS, Ramova Goga, City Councilor of Zalau, who will all give their inputs throughout the debate today. Dear President, the conference on the future of Europe is an extraordinary opportunity to bring EU closer to its citizens, and at the same time to strengthen their sense of ownership in the European project. Regions hold legal and political responsibility for shaping and implementing the European Union's legislation. So let's enhance the region's political impact at the European level on matters with direct relevance to the work of local and regional authorities. Let's consider all means of participatory democracy. Let's start rethinking the European governance by using existing provisions without necessary need of treaty changes, while we do not, of course, exclude them if needed. I'm extremely grateful for the time that you, President Van Rompuy, are allocating to our cause, together with the members of our high-level group. And I'm really looking forward today on hearing on your suggestions and recommendations, which we will certainly use them in order to support our call for a more democratic union. So, dear President Van Rompuy, thank you again for accepting our invitation. We are really glad to have another opportunity to debate with you. And I thank you personally for your intense work on the high-level group on European democracy. Mr. President, Mr. Van Rompuy, you have the floor. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. You can hear me. I hope so. Very well, yes. Okay. Thank you. So, dear members of the Committee of the Regents, the conference on the future of Europe is about to the future. And the choice that the high-level group made from the start was that the future of democracy should be the main team. The high-level group assumes that the conference will not decide, as the President said, on major changes to the treaties. But much can be done within the current structures to strengthen and deepen the European Union and to strengthen and deepen democracy. European democracy is not the only one under pressure. All democracies are challenged from within. And European democracy is about the democracy of the European Union as such, the institutions, and about democracy in the member states. It is also about the input. And it means how decisions are made, how people are involved. And it is about the output. What is the result of policies on jobs, purchasing power, climate, migration, inequalities, security, etc. A lack of output, a lack of results is one reason why more and more citizens no longer see democracy as a value in its self. They look too much at the added value, at the output of our policies. But it is absolutely necessary that we have results. In what world does democracy function? We must first look at all this in a society as it is today. In the multiple crises in which we are still since 2008, since the financial crisis, and which brings much uncertainty. And secondly, in what kind of world are we living, our democracies are living. Secondly, we must look at all this in a new internet society through which many contacts are possible that were unfortunately lies, hatred, and negativity dominate. Another reason to be very concerned is it is particularly sad that European institutions have to take action to secure the rule of law and minority rights in some member states. Dear colleagues, democracy must once again become a conversation in which people listen to each other, in which there is a concern for the common good in which moderation and respect prevail. And this dialogue must take place between citizens and elected politicians, between citizens themselves, and between local, regional, national, and European authorities. Democracy is a conversation. The high level group has been reflecting on all these problems also with a very specific perspective. How can one million local and regional elected representatives and the committee of the regions contribute to restore people's trust in our democracy? No one else in the conference on the future of Europe will even think about this. It's a real opportunity to put this issue, those one million elected people on the agenda. A crucial element in democratic renewal is a strengthening of participatory or deliberative democracy as a complement to representative democracy which is and remains at the heart of our political system. And this exercise must take place at all levels of governments, also the local and the regional one. In this stronger participation of citizens, civil society has to play an important role as well as individuals. People become stronger when they work together. We need to learn to converse again. And the technique used in the conference on the future of Europe, citizens panels, digital platforms, can also be used elsewhere. The digital tool should be used much more by the positive forces in society, still and convinced of it a silent majority. Multilevel governments also contributes to the sense of belonging. Of course the EU respects the internal constitutional organization of countries, but it can itself set an example of better cooperation with national and other parliaments and councils. In this way the EU can better assess the impact of certain measures in order to achieve better results. And the Committee of the Regions could play an important go-between role in such a process as a coordinator, a facilitator and a communicator. And what is not formally provided for in the treaties can be set up informally. I did it with the role of the President of the European Council. Almost nothing was foreseen in the treaties and we filled it up with informal structures. The High Level Group also elaborated a number of concrete proposals to involve the Committee of the Regions more in the four phases of the legislative cycle, from the preparation to the evaluation. And the EU institutions would also have to justify why it disagrees with certain positions of the Committee of the Regions. The modalities of this involvement could be the subject of an inter-institutional agreement with the European Commission. All this has to be done taking into account the principle of subsidiarity whereby governance is conducted as close to the people as possible and whereby there is at the same time a concern to tackle the problems at the most appropriate level to achieve the best results for the people themselves. So it is an active and dynamic subsidiarity in other words. The High Level Group will adopt its final report in the course of this month. It will then be up to the Committee of the Regions itself to reflect on the decisions and take them forward within the conference on the future of Europe. That work will not be finished after the end of the conference in the spring of next year. The conference can provide nevertheless a strong basis for further reflection and for further action. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Dear President Musilier, thank you for accepting, first of all, our invitation and joining us today for this debate. We are, after all, co-organizing with you the Regions South Provence Alpe Côte d'Azur in partnership with all the French associations of local and regional authorities, les régions de France, l'Assemblée des départements de France et l'Association de Mer de France, and the incoming, of course, French presidency of the Council, the ninth European Summit of Regions and Cities, which will take place on the third and the fourth of March in Marseille, and with which we will develop the idea of building a real house of European democracy. So I really want to thank you for being here today with us for this debate. I want to thank you for the excellent collaboration that we have so far in vis-à-vis the Marseille Summit, and I also want to thank you for the very strong collaboration that we have had all these years together in the benefit and in the interest of the citizens of Europe. The floor is yours, Mr. President. The French region, and I want to greet the President of the British region, my friend Louis-Gener-Ginard, who is here. And so we have a very important moment with a quarter of the paths that are very important on the political plan. Mr President, you have made me confident that for many years we have been working together when I was a European president in the region, and when I came to be elected, you have manifested your confidence again in my place to make sure that during the French presidency of the European Union, we can receive the regions in the framework of your organization. We are going to do it together. It is an honor for us to receive you. A huge friendship lies to you and a lot of respect. Maybe we are Mediterranean, so we have a way to see things with a smile on the face. And I, who comes from Marseille, I find myself with the Bruxelles climate, which tells me that finally we are also good at working here, especially among friends, and to make as much as possible, the best possible, the future of our continent in the context of support for local elected officials. Local elected officials are those who are closest to the field. Europe is the one that is the farthest away. And Europe is the one that has to be integrated by our populations to ensure that there is no potential erosion. These permanent anti-European messages that bring about a rise in populism in order to fight against European construction. The march has always been very clear in this sense, to add the skills, the differences, the performances at the service of our fellow citizens, and to make sure that Europe is the closest to the field. Which is better than the regional committee to do it. And so this confidence that we have witnessed makes sure that we all will welcome, of course, all of you, in March, March 3 to 4, and we will make the honor to visit this region and to work on this sum of cities and regions that must be at a time of the foundation of this democratic renewal. Of course, with your committee and your team, Mr. President, there must be a time that is different from the others on this sum. We must take advantage of the alignment of the planets with the President of the Republic who just expressed himself earlier. To make sure that we have this capacity to make sure that this event is a success and a founding moment for the future of our European democracy. Two themes have been chosen on this occasion, to build the home of European democracy and citizens in the heart of Europe. The sum will be a tribune to express the choices of territories with the French President and the President of the European Commission, the President of the Council and the next President of the European Parliament. We also hope to be able to count on your presence, Mr. von Rumpuy, to benefit from your vision of the European democracy of tomorrow that you are about to present in part where we start in the liminal proposals. The cities and regions will make conclusions and recommendations for the future of Europe. Of course, it will go through the youth, a half-day discussion, because in the end, why do you vote for the European leader? How to participate in the construction of this European idea and not reject this European idea? We are far from wars when they are at our doorstep. We are in this powerful continent and what are the centrifugal forces of the centripetes that geopolitically will make sure that it wants to diminish our economic power, our democratic power, our interventional power, this democratic debate is absolutely necessary for the construction of Europe. We have this tribune and I am intimately convinced, and it is my greatest conviction, I am a pro-European, I am a Marseillean, I am a regionalist, I am French, and I live in my neighborhood. And you too, you hear, you too, you see why we do not vote, you too, you hear messages that do not correspond to your political philosophies. You have to come to bring reason, as long as there is passion, but by recalling that the political discourse must be built around an ideal. Here, you have worked to make sure that together we can build this renewal of practices. I am intimately convinced that Europe will succeed thanks to the territory and that the action of Europe will be included by the territories. And so, on this debate, I would like to thank you for your welcome, and it will be a great honor to welcome you in this beautiful region, Provençal Côte d'Azur. Come on, let's be chauvinous, as we know so well, that it is the most beautiful region of Europe. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. President. This is Renaud. And I would like to go now to Igor Senchar, the Slovenian State Secretary for Coordination of International and EU Affairs. State Secretary, I would like to thank the Slovenian presidency for the good cooperation with the European Committee of the Regents. On your invitation, we were able to visit your beautiful country in September. We were also honored to welcome Prime Minister Jansat, our last COR plenary session in October, and I'm really looking forward in continuing this collaboration. State Secretary, the floor is yours. Thank you very much. Do you hear me? Thanks. Dear President, dear guests, dear guests, I would like to take a special part in today's meeting on the topic of the conference in the future of Europe. The European elections of the Regents have a special role in the conference. The representatives of the elections actively share such a final election here at the plenary session conferences. Besides that, the election of the Regents organizes civil and, at the same time, private agreements and meetings with the state, on local and regional levels, which I would recommend and I would like to present to you an important idea on the interactive, more language-digital platforms. Your commitment, your connection to the strong democratic union and also to the rise of territorial integrity of European politics is valuable and visible, and I would like to thank you for that. Ladies and gentlemen, in the last few years, Europe, such as the rest of the world, has become increasingly important and civilized. Since the pandemic ended, the solution to the current crisis and the establishment of a green economy, has become increasingly important for the digital transformation of the society in the short term. In all of this, it has become increasingly important for the development of the global branch. In this context, our group of representatives has expressed themselves as important. That is why we are here at the LIDA conference in the presence of Europe, which is a broad, transparent and inclusive discussion about how the best European Union will come. Slovenia sees this conference as an innovative project, which in the heart has become a European state and state. Our common goal must be to build on the present to all European Union and also to establish from all European Union and its institutions the support of the four provinces, which we cannot have for our own benefit. Most of the activities of the conference, most of them before the end of the year, are in the European Union. Besides that, the pandemic that has gathered in our group has not yet ended. Part of it has not yet spread, which has come to the beginning of the discussion. Unfortunately, we are currently dealing with the new growing pandemic in Europe, the Omicron variant of the virus. It is easy to say that all this is not known, it is not necessarily influenced by the flow of drawing activities. In fact, some actions must be carried out in a hybrid way, or they must be presented for some time. All four European and state panels on the October plenary meeting are actively held at the conference of the state. On the meeting, which is particularly important for Slovenia, representatives of the Western Balkans were held at the meeting, with whom we have the responsibility for the coming of Europe. That is why, with the inclusion of members with the aim of a wider and more open discussion, it would be better to divide. It is fun for the conference for the club to have a structure as complex as possible, to have a good run and not reach the front. It is also important to note the lack of communication activities, such as the European Union, at the national level, it is necessary to admit that the introduction of the meeting and the visibility of the conference were not as clear as we thought it would be. The fact that the public held on to the digital platform remained silent and did not reflect the diversity of the Union, the diversity, in particular, is one of the key assets of the Union. It is necessary to increase the activity at the national level and increase the involvement in the process of the conference. That is why the activities of all participants, including your selection, are so important. Ladies and gentlemen, gather for the European Commission, the European Parliament, the World of the European Union with them, the members of the Parliament will first take part in the final success of the conference. The main goal of Slovenia is to prepare for the interests of the state in the heart of the conference and to hear their enthusiasm and dreams, the vision of the meeting. During the meeting of the meeting, the European Commission gives a voice to the representatives of European cities, regions and communities as a member of the Union. We believe that the goal and the objective of the millions of meetings is to bring strong European Union which will ensure the constant democracy of the European identity and the national identity of the people and will be easily developed in the future. Our goal is to build a comprehensive understanding of the development of the members of the Council that will join them in the meeting of the European Union and then in the meeting of the state, and therefore we must believe that the European Union has a strong autonomy which is a subsidiary of one of the key values and also the head of the department. The conference is focused on the issues and policies that are of interest to the state. The decision must be made as closer to the state and thus the beginning of the subsidiary as well as the resumption. We must use the opportunity that is needed for the conference for the sake of democratic legitimacy and the participation of European projects to prepare for the further support of the state and the state for our joint goals and goals. We must do this in the face of the opportunity to give the conference and to use the fact that we strengthen the European Union's autonomy. First of all, on the local and regional levels so that later, as a whole, it is better prepared for the meeting with unforeseen situations and therefore better prepared for the future. And today in Slovenia we have organized a whole variety of meetings with which I have a middle place of the Blesky Strategic Forum which at the beginning of September was attracted to close to 200 top leaders of the international politics of the economy, science and technology civil society and young leaders. The process conference will not be closed because there will be no time to discuss its issues. The mandate was provided by the predecessor of three main institutions who will then learn how to strengthen the foundation of this teaching. I would like to tell everyone about their abilities and their efforts. We hope that in the near future the final recommendations will be made to increase the policy of the European Union around the country and that all three institutions will be encouraged to make a joint support for Europe in the next four conferences of the European Commission. All of Slovenia is a key priority for the next European Union to be supported by the current pandemic and the other hybrid citizens. We need a powerful and effective European Union who will hold a daily and digital support for development. We need a Union which will identify who will be resistant to the unexpected situations and better prepared for future development. We managed to establish the European Health Union, which would be able to collect more attention on the significant health sizes and the significant health sizes. With good results, we have reached the green and digital transition. We have been able to change the agreement between the member states of the Act of Digital History and the Act of Digital Trade. We need a fairly decent and valuable European Union which is able to collect value and stability in its surroundings. In this context, it will be important to continue to strengthen the Czech-Atlantic relations. We wish the Union to be able to take a step towards expanding with the partners of the Western Balkans. In order to expand the European Union, we see strategic negotiations with which the European Union will take action today. As you know, on October 6, the top of the European Western Balkans and on this top, it was clearly recommended about the geostrategic mention of the region for the European Union. Both sides were also affected by the process of expansion. In conclusion, we would like to see a strong European democracy in the context of this conference. I have already put it in the context of this conference. We would like to see a strong European democracy in the context of this conference.ets this conference will be institutions, but also the whole federalization of the European Union. It has already been called upon to the most state-owned branches and institutions. And in this context, I would like to give that the European democracy, the values, the rights, the right to the law represent the theme of the European Union. Not back then, in the second member of the agreement, it was written that this was the basis for common values that are the theme of our society and common identities. And the right to the law is based on common European values and also on the basis of the Slovenian precedence. We are aware that the Union is more than a euro, more than a common coin. There is a group of values that are the same values that hold our Union together. And we must forget that these values were first drawn from the concrete policies of the European Union, then in the process of the conference in the future. Thank you, Secretary. I would like to thank the respected Mr. Chairman, for all your help and for the support that has been given by the BLEI, the Strategic Forum, for the coming European Union. Thank you very much for your support and support for your decision. Thank you very much for contributing with your ideas in this very interesting debate. Now, three weeks ago, on the anniversary of the day the Wall of Shame came down in 1989, I visited Berlin when I joined the Europe Bottom-Up Conference on Participatory Democracy and Ways to Engage with Citizens. There I have also met with Secretary of State Mark Spice and with Secretary Jerry Wop, and with different organizations working on the conference. So I'm looking forward to the local dialogue that we will be holding next year by the Committee of Regions in the city-state of Berlin. I was really impressed by this truly historical European city. And of course, all the inspiring discussions that we had during these days. So I would like to give the floor now to our member from Berlin, Mr. Jerry Wop, for two minutes, please. Mr. President, we are very pleased to welcome you in Berlin and I am happy that we were able to leave such a good impression. The Conference on the Future of Europe is a very unique chance for the citizens of Europe to directly engage in the debate on reform and renewal of European democracy. We also need a change, and therefore we need the citizens. We need a stronger connection in the European Union, and this is only possible through the participation of the citizens. In the face of the populist threats of our democracy, we also have to do more to represent the legitimacy of our policy and the policy decision-making processes and achieve greater enthusiasm with the citizens. Our task as ADR members should be to take part in the regional level of the people who are encouraged to take part in events and to participate in the debates, their ideas and wishes, and to formulate and discuss them on the digital platform. Berlin also makes a contribution to the Conference on the Future of Europe. For example, on November 13th this year, the first Berlin-Bürger Dialogue to the Social Europe City selected 120 Berliners and Berliners who we, professionally, similar to the Berlin-Bürger Dialogue at the conference, chose to represent the width of the city society, according to age, according to gender, according to geography, according to social situations. 120 Berliners and Berliners were there and discussed their ideas, but also visions and wishes for the future of Europe. But also constructive criticism is sought so that the future of Europe can be designed so that it becomes more righteous and more solidary and ultimately more stable. The Berlin-Bürger Dialogue will continue on December 10th. We want to do this in the regional house of the country and also to introduce the connection to the regional so. The pandemic also makes a line through the bill. You know these practical, problematic challenges through the pandemic. We think about how we can implement them online and later meet with the citizens, because personal exchange is important. Thank you very much. Mr. Voep, I would like to give the floor now to Christian Johann, the director of the European Academy Berlin, who will share with us some examples on how Berliners can be part of debates on the European Union. He will start with two videos before giving a short presentation. Christian, the floor is yours. Thank you for joining us. What do you think of the EU? What are the three things you want to say? Freedom. European rule. European rule. Yes. Freedom. Yes, and also... In the EU, where do you think most of it? What do you have to rule first? traffic, health systems... Everything is still running. It's still running. It's still rolling. He has problems. He offers chances. But everyone wishes for the people in the EU more democracy. So, talk to them. Discuss. Decide with them. And to take advantage of this chance, the EU has started the conference on future Europe. Everyone should talk to them and discuss Europe. That doesn't matter to me. I live in Berlin. I have my own concerns. No. 80% of the political decisions that are made in Brussels are made in your everyday life. But who will decide about our everyday life and what will be decided, we will decide. That's why it's time to talk to them. About our topics. Climate and environment. Health. Work. Education. And, and, and, and, and, and, and. Now you are full of energy. You have the power. Questions. Ideas. Suggestions. Super. But how is it going on? In Berlin, the Berlin initiative for the conference on future Europe helps you. That's the place for everyone who wants to know more about the conference. We meet every six weeks. Online. And support all Berlin actors in Europe. We have collected the right information. There is also a home page and an appointment partner, not a robot, but a callot. Who wants to participate and needs information, just message. Your voice for Europe. Berlin needs Europe. And Europe needs Berlin. Thank you very much. And now I would like to share my presentation. Make sure that everyone of you can see it. And I will speak in German. Yes, thank you very much that we can be here today. Our specialty here in Berlin is the informal political education. And second, I would like to introduce you to the Berlin initiative for the conference on future Europe. And to understand who we are, we have prepared a little overview of what we have been doing here in Berlin since 1963. We are a community of participating organizations who have been doing political education in Europe and have specialized in it. Political education with the purpose of democratic education, democratic promotion and to do this before the background of European education. We have more than 150 projects, events, events per year and would like to make an contribution here in Berlin to support an open, value-based, democratic European society. We are supported by the country of Berlin with an institutional funding that allows us to carry out this project and to design it in the sense of Europe. What exactly do we do? I have mentioned it, informal political education and we do that by creating digital graphic novels, by binding augmented reality into language courses. We do that especially by explaining teaching forces and multipliers in schools in Europe and establishing them democratically. We are on the streets, we have networking events, conferences and videos. We want to find a way to do this in a new way. So how do we do that? I have brought two examples. Example one is a project that we want to do in the next years in onboarding memories, memory places in all of Europe with 360 degree technology. We don't do that as an agency and as video experts, but we want to make the people who engage in this place in the situation together. We bring the people together to bring a value to themselves in a political education, to bring people to a room and to school in workshops and we show them how to use 360 degree cameras to use the memory places in small teams often with great enthusiasm and great self-employment and we show them how to use this technology in Poland, in France, in Lithuania and so on. 360 degree technology is used for young people who are attractive and in this way maybe a room to bring a European memory culture forward. The second example I brought is the last one. It's called Europe on the Streets. We just saw an episode and it says that what we do and what Berlin does is exactly what I just said. We take a known influencer and a European Promi who is the head of the EVP faction and take us on the road to the streets in Berlin and talk to normal passers-by and ask people if they have an idea who this is. And then we explain who is the head of the European Parliament and how to participate. How does representative democracy work? What are the problems? Something that happens on the streets. And because we do that, we are great at capturing the European Conference on the future of Europe. We say we need European moments and the Conference on the future of Europe is a European moment next to the votes of the Parliament and the other things that happen. We want that in Berlin. That's the answer to the question where we do it? Local and in a bottom-up effort for those of you who don't know We are on the road in all respects. We are trying to work on the streets, trying to work on the interactive elements on the sports field, on the cinema, to work together in the small garden club, to strengthen Europe from below and to set impulses, which then come into the world in Brussels and in all other European countries and societies. And in this way and that we want to be we don't just want to be a partner for the city of Berlin, but a platform for all European themes here in Europe. And the right momentum. And we also have to say that it is a feast to work together for Europe. And if you want to join us or if you are interested in everything we do and it is just a small episode, we are very happy to hear from you. Thank you very much for your work today. Thank you very much, Christian. I saw first hand your work and I really found it very interesting. And this is why we invited you to present this to our members and we found it very interesting as well. So thank you very much for your contribution and I would like to give the floor now to Alexander Milisov, the delegate for the conference on the future of Europe, for one minute please. No, I'm sorry, for two minutes. Thank you. Mr. Milisov. Thank you. Can you see me? No, we cannot see you. But we can hear you. I'm Alexander and I'm part of the panel of the conference on the future of Europe. Particularly I'm part of the panel of European democracy values rule for all security. How can the committee of regions improve democracy? As part of the panels we have mentioned a few times that the EU doesn't do a good job in representing itself. The citizens do not know what the EU is doing and how it is doing it. The committee of the regions is a perfect example of this. Before the plenary conference I had no idea your organization even existed. The situation is really bad. I have a few friends that are studying regional development and politics and even they didn't know anything about you. We cannot have a proper democracy without the citizens understanding how they are governed. With a little digging I did I got the main idea of the committee. The committee is an EU advisory body composed of locally and regionally elected representatives coming from all 27 member states. In the first days of being invited here I tried to think of a solution to the problem of improving democracy. My first idea was something like pyramid scheme. For example, the local populace they go to their local authority and present their idea. The local authority then looks into the idea and decides if it's worth the time to be examined more. Next idea is to follow the local authorities in the region, get passed on the regional authority which in turn proposes it to the committee. Since the committee is composed of the local authorities I thought that would make it closer to the citizens. I can clearly see a few problems with this idea. The first problem is that the committee doesn't have any actual power or soft power. The second is that the committee is not homogeneous. Every country nominates members of its choice. It doesn't have a unified way of electing officials. There is no... Yes, you can conclude please. The best way for strengthening the constitution in order to do that first we need to keep citizens informed. Thank you for listening. Thank you very much. We now move on to and I give the floor to the member of our network of young elected politicians. Ramona Goga, city councilor from Zalau and wishes you all the best for Romanian national day today. Thank you. Your floor is yours. Thank you very much Chair. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this plenary session. My name is Ramona Goga and as the chair said, I am city councilor in Zalau, Romania. I'm also one of the lucky participants of the young elected politicians program of the Committee of the Regents. Recently we have gathered for a three-day online EAPS forum where we got the chance to draft and endorse recommendations on key policies for the European Committee of the Regents. That has been in my opinion a great exercise of participatory democracy between young elected politicians from across Europe. And I just want to say that I cannot agree more with President Van Rompuy when he said that a strong society with active communities is a key to a healthy democracy. That's why the conference on the future of Europe is a tremendous chance for the European citizens to hear their voices count. Now the EU institution must just listen, prioritize and transform their ideas into policies. And the local dialogue the COR has begun should not stop when the conference ends but should turn into a mechanism of permanent dialogue with the citizens. What is more, the local and regional authorities should be involved as well in dialogues so that they can promote at the EU level the lessons that they learn at the local level. And it would be also highly beneficial for the local communities to be led by experienced elected officials but we cannot ask the youth to step aside just because of their age. So we recommend that the COR's 2018 proposal for developing an Erasmus program for local elected officials to be supported and implemented. However, none of this can be done without a proper budget. And the EU and local and regional authorities should help with this budget dedicated to democracy building. Democracy building exercises, sorry. This is why we call upon the support of the EU in order to benefit from a healthy European democracy we must focus on building local, lively local democracies first. And the EU must play its role in supporting the development of these democracies and stay close to the European citizens. They have recommendations go towards this direction and we hope to take them into account when the COR contributions are sent to the conference on the future of Europe. Thank you very much. Thank you for your contribution and I now open the floor to our members. Dear colleagues, I will start giving the floor to those of you who have asked for it but please keep in mind that you have one minute because we have the debate with the president of France, the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron coming up. Mr. Bock, EPP one minute please. Thank you, Mr. President because it's the National Day of Romania I'm going to speak in English and in Romanian and thank you for the message to all Romanians, Mr. President. For the EPP democracy and our democratic values are not for sale. These values are at the very heart of the European way of life. In the European Union peace was possible top down but the future of Europe is bottom up. We have to win the hearts of the European citizens. We as EPP underline the role of local and regional authorities in promoting and protecting European democracy because in the end all democracy is local. The fundamental values of the European Union are at the very heart of our democracy even when the central governments have other tendencies. I am the heart of my identity I am Transylvanian, I am a Roman with European citizenship. We need to consolidate the European project from bottom up and win the hearts of the European citizens. The European Union is not just the project of the enthusiasm of a generation but the project of the future generations of the Europeans. Thank you and happy National Day So, the floor now to Mark Spice, one minute EPP, please. Thank you very much, President. I would like to come back to what President von Rompuy said. The acceptance of European democracy depends on the fact that the European democracy has responsibilities. That means a dialogue that is without consequences does not strengthen the European democracy. It is a double measure that what we hear from the citizens must have consequences. That means it is not enough to summarize a report that is then covered with a golden veil and put down in an act barrier. There must be a follow-up process and then this follow-up process must take part in the COA. Secondly, if we really want to get effective answers to the questions that the citizens move, it is not enough to take a look at the Brussels level. However, so that this framework is successfully implemented, it needs the city and region of Europe. And that is why we must be strongly involved in this follow-up process and in the formulation of answers. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. The floor now to Andreu Rodriguez from the PS, for one minute, please. Dear colleagues, esteemed President of the Group of Aldo Nibel, as politicians is our responsibility to listen we are immersed in this hearing without precedents is the COA. I want to give you as an example to the young people of Rioja who throughout the last month have gathered to debate about gender violence and have done so in the framework of the COA. More than 400 young people have debated about gender violence at a key moment, because as you know the percentage of teenagers that did not have their existence is increasing. Also in Rioja we have debated the past month intergenerational European with the participation of national experts and with the objective of making an analysis of the situation in Spain and in Europe. We are the most close to the citizens and that we better know their needs, because as the president of the European Commission said in the last debate about the United States the societies based on democracy and the common values rely on stable foundations trust in people so new ideas arise so change is produced so we overcome the injustice. Thank you. Thank you very much. The floor now to Ms. Gavritch from Renew Europe for one minute. Hello President and dear colleagues in the meeting of Renew Europe we are aware that the arrival of the European Union is a key reminder for the success and development of the European Union. I would like to say a few words in my place in Slovenia a week ago I had the opportunity to open discussions on the European Union of education and culture. When all the speakers came and spoke with the other speakers it was necessary for example the process of preparing, writing and the bureaucracy of the European Union. I also invited people in the evening to be organized and we talked about the European Union and the talks and the agenda of the European Union and the discussion fell. And I think that people are wrong in these talks that it would be necessary to strengthen the presence of the European Union in Europe. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. Vlasak one minute please. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. I would like to give the floor now to Mr. Van Loove from the EA for one minute. Thank you Mr. President, dear colleagues. I will continue in Dutch. First of all I would like the guest speakers and certainly Hermann van Rompij thank you for their setting. If you would like to hear from Mr. Van Loove I would like to thank Mr. Van Loove from the EA for their setting. If you would like to hear from the parliament in the future conference, from the beginning I would like to hear from Mr. Van Loove that the future conference will take place in a symbol project. But then we will also have very positive debates in Flanders via the Flanders-European association. But I am afraid that there will be no debate about the future without a real debate and also with very little self-reflection. And what we would like to see Europe, we must also evaluate. There are too many calls towards more Europe more centralisation and less subsidiarity. There must also be another sound. The clash between the citizen and the European Union. And that is why I would like to present two proposals. The role of the nationals and part-time parliament through the red Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Frey. One minute please from the Greens. Thank you very much, Mr. Frey. Thank you very much. The floor now to Mr. Sonne from the PES, for one minute please. Thank you. Mr. Frey. Mr. Frey, i would like to ask you are not there werenyt a bunch of opinions and arguments improved in this framework or passed on a new process we are going in Thank you for one minute, please. Yes, Mr. President. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for this great example of participation of citizens of Christian Johann von der EAB. In Erdgezeich, when the citizens and citizens, who can actively participate in the future of Europe, then the democracy increases. But good dialogue takes time. It has already been pointed out that we have to give the conference of the future of Europe this time, especially if this future conference should serve as a blue pause for future citizens' participation. I support the idea of the high-ranking group of European democracy, the role of European democracy to promote local and regional levels to improve the democratic legitimation of citizens and citizens. With this, the ADR can play a significant role in its multilevel governance approach. This role as a mediator, like Hermann von Rompol said, or coordinator, to strengthen this role, could also be a result of the conference of the future of Europe. So let's get into it for a strong democracy in Europe. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Mr. Bianco, please. Thank you, President. I believe that even the advent of Covid shows that there is a need for more Europe and not just one Europe. The pandemic does not know the national borders. That's why the conference on the future of Europe is an extraordinary occasion. And I, President, am sincerely concerned, I want to say it again, because the results so far are not satisfactory. As I have been told, it may take a long time of the conference to get to concrete answers. Dialogue with answers on all the topics. The regions and municipalities are asking for more courage to face all the questions starting with the dramatic change of the climate. President, exactly three weeks ago, my city, Catania, was hit by a terrible hurricane that exploded in the city in 36 hours, all the water of a year. We are facing a climate change that cannot fight any national state, but that we must all fight together. That's why we are asking for more courage. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Many thanks, people. Colleges, the European integration has spent a great amount of time on the genuine influence for EU of greater alternation in the governments. In the three citizens' dialogues that we have organized in my region, in Cantabria, within the framework of the conference, the citizens have spoken of democracy. They have already expressed some ideas that I have transferred to them, three fundamental ones. That the values and the norms are a concept about which the European Union is supported in its foundation. Values and norms about which Europe must continue to build. Those values that the Lisbon Treaty itself collects and that have its foundation in respect of human dignity, of freedom, of democracy, of equality, of the rule of law. Secondly, that the democracy of the European Union means that the citizens can doubt the institutions, they can impugnate them and keep them under control. Thirdly, that an unbiotic democracy and institutions of indirect democracy that work and that are directly linked to the citizens. One or the other. Thank you very much. Sorry we have time limitation today. Mr. Trinka, from the EPP one minute please. For example, water companies, where the community is directly involved in the attacks on the nature, and they take responsibility for their implementation. Water companies are connecting more level management with the common European priorities. We also have partnership companies, which we believe will have enough power to choose key projects in a new program. That is exactly what we prove the principle of subsidiarity in practice. That is why we want to add this listening, weight and importance to the national level. We value the trust that the communities have in us. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Brokes please. Renew one minute please. Thank you very much Mr. President, my dear colleagues and colleagues. The future conference lives on events and offers in the regions. That is why I would also like to thank my colleagues from Berlin for their initiative. The political levels must work together here in the sense of the European idea. On the national level, we have conducted a European-Bürger dialogue, on which many young people have participated. Especially the issue of the bourgeoisie of the European Union is of great interest. You can see that many young people are burning for the EU, despite the recognizable need for modernization. Ladies and gentlemen, I want to be honest, the conference needs a shoe now. The remaining time should be used to make the conference even more famous. The central recommendations of the people must not only be heard, but also be implemented in transparent ways on the European level. Because we cannot make any more mistakes here. Thank you very much, Mr. Caputo, for what you have planned. It will be built through concrete achievements, which first create a de facto solidarity. How much awareness is there in these words that we found in the Schumann Declaration of 1950? After Brexit, the European Union finally managed to put the debate in the centre of social politics. With the pandemic and the economic disaster, we discovered the importance of the principle of solidarity, which is at the base of the treaties. We restored the right value to the skills of the Union in terms of health. And we gave a decisive push to the process of European integration, with the first mission of a shared debt, recovery and resilience facilities. The conference of the future of Europe is at the right time to respond to the request of a more democratic, more solid and more inclusive Europe. We must, however, take a step forward with history. I think that that path, to say it with spinels, is not easy or not easy. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Schausberger. One minute. Yes, if we really want to strengthen the European democracy, then we also need strong democracy on the regional and on the local level. But that also means really strong self-righteousness on these two levels. We see that where democracy is weakened and reduced, first of all the regional and local self-righteousness is reduced and weakened. The decision lies in the first line with the Miggit states. Therefore, I expect that the European Union, also the Commission, is more committed to the Miggit states, that the regions and the communes are strengthened. The second thing I wanted to say is that the regional self-righteousness in the Baitritz countries is very weak. That shows the annual reports. And that's why I think that we should integrate the further countries, their regions and the communes, in the shape of their own, into the European Conference. Thank you, Mr. Konrad. One minute. Mr. Hanglung. One minute, please. Thank you, Mr. President. Regions are autonomy with the government's authority. We need a much more clear role in the conference. Almost 45% of the EU's population is dependent on these regional authorities, to develop and deliver medium-sized economic and social benefits from the EU. So, it is important to realize the superiority principle. It must go from being a writing product to something that guides the legislation. Thank you very much, Mr. Konrad. No. Ms. Magyar, for one minute, please. Dear President Trump, it's an excellent occasion to welcome you here at the Committee of Region Plenary and to exchange views about the future of Europe. I am a reporter of the enlargement package of this year. And this fact inspires me to answer the future of Europe. Is it not enough to speak only about the EU? Europe is bigger than the EU. Yes, there are countries out of the EU. Some of them in Western Balkans are interested in the enlargement process. The perspective of the Western Balkans strongly influences the future of the EU as well. Is it at the interest of the EU that after a long, long and unsuccessful process, Western Balkans becomes a territory influenced by other big countries out of the EU? It's time to more efficiently. Thank you very much. Mr. Bereni, please, for one minute. Thank you very much, Mr. President. I would like to ask distinguished speakers about a particular issue, but very important, and this is an issue about the European Citizens' Initiatives. Because if we're talking about getting closer Europe to the people, then the European Citizens' Initiatives introduced in the Lisbon Treaty was one of the main instruments how to do that. However, it's not very successful because six attempts, six initiatives were able to collect the one million signatures for seven countries, but only two of them have been adopted by the European Commission, and only two are now on the process of preparing the legal proposals, and four were rejected. So how do our distinguished speakers see the future of the European Citizens' Initiatives, whether there will be some recommendations on the conclusions on the future of Europe about this very important instrument? Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bereni. I'm sorry, now we move to Mr. Eichtinger for one minute, and it's our last intervention for this debate. An impulse for a joint reform process of the EU has reached the conference goals. The dialogue process with the citizens and citizens should be carried out at the end of the conference. A big thank you to the members of the region for their work for the future of Europe. Thank you. Thank you. So dear colleagues, I would like to give the floor now to President Van Rompuy for his final remarks. Thank you. I will be very brief because you're waiting upon President Macron. The key words for this debate are the words listening, dialogue, conversation. And therefore we have to strengthen participatory democracy, and we have to strengthen representative democracy. We have to strengthen participatory democracy, and we have examples in Berlin and other places, so that we can better listen to the people, not only to the individuals, but also to civil societies. And so that we can have policies that are reflecting the correct priorities. We have to see if our strategic agenda in Brussels is the agenda also of our citizens at all levels, and especially at the local and the regional level. So strengthening the liberative participatory democracy is of utmost importance. And the second one is strengthening representative democracy. And therefore these one million elected people has to be more involved in the European decision-making. And the Committee of the Regents can play an important role in all these as a coordinator, as a facilitator, and so on. So we need both the liberative democracy and representative democracy. And this exercise that started in the Conference of the Future of Europe should not be a one-off exercise. It has to continue even after the closing officially of the conference. It is a continuing process. Democracy is in crisis, and it will not be over after the conference. So we have to continue our work together to have a better democracy at all levels of power, a better democracy via the participatory democracy and via representative democracy. Thank you so much for all the contributions. I take it also for the final draft of our report. Thank you very much, President Van Rompuy. It's been a great honor to work with you all this time. And I would also like to thank all of our colleagues for this debate. And I would also like to draw your attention to the conference that we have co-organized with our high-level group titled A Europe that Empowers, Protects and Delivers Strengthening European Multi-Level Democracy, mainly to discuss issues that we discuss today that will take place in a hybrid format on December the 3rd, the day after tomorrow, from 9.30 to one Brussels time. So those of you who want to continue this interesting discussion can do it on the 3rd of December in our event co-organized. So we have a two-minute break for our people to get connected with Elisheh and we start our debate with Emmanuel Macron. Thank you.