The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) held a conference entitled Shaping Europe Together. The purpose of this conference, organised with a view to the conclusion of the Conference of the Future of Europe, was to wrap up the work done so far by the Committee and to discuss the current state of affairs, the challenges ahead and ambitions for the future.

ESSC president Christa Schweng kicked off the debate, referring to the recent historic developments in Ukraine and answering the opening question as to whether now was the right time to discuss the future of Europe.

"Witnessing the aggression against Ukraine and its people shows the urgent need to further strengthen the European project and Europe's fundamental values, such as peace, freedom and democracy", said Ms Schweng.

She highlighted the importance of this event as a moment to take the pulse of where we were now and to evaluate what had happened in the past few months.

The EESC has conducted outreach initiatives and events in all Member States in order to guarantee fair representation, to involve employers, workers and the whole of organised civil society, and to convey their points of view to the Conference on the Future of Europe. The Committee also adopted a resolution on the new narrative for Europe and published several ideas on the Conference's online platform. 

In a closing statement, Clément Beaune, Secretary of State for European Affairs to France's Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, said: "Implementing the citizen's proposals will require debates and institutional decisions, and the EESC will act as guardian to ensure that this meets your expectations".

The EESC has played an exceedingly active role in the Conference on the Future of Europe through its ad-hoc group, as an observer on the Conference's executive board, and as a member of the plenary. (ks)