Summary
The debate on the future of Europe was initiated in 2015 by the Five Presidents’ Report (European Commission 2015), followed by the European Commission White Paper on the Future of Europe (European Commission 2017). The debate culminated in a unique, innovative, multilingual and digital citizens’ consultation forum – the CoFoE (Schimmelfennig 2020; Blokker 2021; Alemanno and Organ 2021). The aim was to allow various actors, from EU institutions and national governments to small civil society organisations and individual citizens, to debate the future trajectories of the European project. Despite the triumphant tone of the closing ceremony, it was a difficult task with as yet unclear outcomes and important criticisms, some of which we outline in the report (Maher 2020).
The authors of the chapters presented in this report address discursive trends, constructed meanings and policy analyses in relation to prevailing constitutional trajectories in the debate on the future of Europe. Contributions include empirical analyses of policy trends, discourses and narratives on the future of the European project from the perspective of a wide range of actors (member states, parliaments, think tanks, civil society actors, academia, etc.) and across various policy areas and polity-level frameworks. Within a collective effort, a broad range of proposals referring to the debate on the future of Europe were gathered across the continent. The report focuses on the analyses of proposals (normative-level visions, policy-based recommendations, critical reflections, reactionary debates, etc.) on the future of Europe in relation to its democratic functioning from multi-scalar perspectives, including analyses on the sub-national, national and European levels.
Full info
ARENA Report 5/23 (pdf) (312 pages)
Imagining the future of Europe. Social and political actors’ proposals on European integration
Karolina Czerska-Shaw and Marta Warat (eds)
July 2023