The unity of Europe and the vindication of its values must act as a backbone for society

The Conference on the Future of Europe, which should have started almost a year ago but has been postponed not only because of the pandemic but also because of the internal difficulties that have been encountered in its realisation, is being prepared.

What is the Conference on the Future of Europe? It would be a European initiative, announced by President Ursula von der Leyen in July 2019, in which various issues are to be discussed. At first it seemed that it would focus on the possibility of reforms in the EU institutions, especially with regard to the enthronement of the "spitzenkandidat" (the need for the president of the European Commission to be elected by the Parliament from among the heads of the lists of the groups that stood for election), an issue that was at the centre of much of the campaign for the last European elections. Now everything seems to indicate that the issues to be addressed are much more open, ranging from other institutional reforms to migration, strengthening the rule of law, health, instruments for citizens' participation in EU decision-making, the economic crisis and others.

On 11 March, the three presidents of the institutions, Sassoli for the European Parliament, Von der Leyen for the Commission and Costa for the Council of the European Union, signed the institutional declaration launching the Conference and announced that it would begin its work on 9 May, a year later than planned.

It had been announced that the Conference would last two years, and that it would involve all the EU institutions, the Member States (especially the parliaments) and civil society. All of them were called upon to express their opinion through the multiple consultation mechanisms established by the Union, some telematic and others face-to-face. But it seems that, in the end, it will only last for one year. This would not be a Convention to reform the Treaties, but a preliminary step in which it would be necessary to determine whether this was necessary and/or possible, and in which areas. The pandemic put off the possibility of face-to-face hearings, and the creation of a multilingual platform was set in motion to make up for this complex participation as far as possible. 

At a time when populisms, understood as simple answers to complex problems, nationalisms, i.e. tribalisms based on ethnicism rather than on free, global, participatory and responsible citizenship, the unity of Europe and the vindication of its values must act as the backbone for a society that will have to face many challenges in the near future, economic, migratory, technological, ecological and, above all, ethical. In this sense, reflecting on networks, a medium that is becoming an increasingly essential element in our lives, is fundamental when it comes to increasing commercial exchanges, economic development, communication and knowledge. It is increasingly necessary to reflect on the code of ethics that should govern the networks in order to achieve fair use and greater development.