This weekend, the Conference Plenary will discuss reports from the European Citizens' Panels, national panels and events, the EYE and the Platform. In this Conference Plenary meeting, the 80 representatives of the European Citizens' Panels that have been selected from the pool of 800 that convened in Strasbourg in September and October will take their seats. Moreover, for the first time, the Plenary will discuss citizens' contributions stemming from the different components of the Conference, while deliberations, events, and online debates continue.

The Second Conference Plenary meeting will take place on Saturday 23 October, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, with physical and remote participation. On Friday, the Plenary working groups, composed of representatives from all components of the Conference Plenary will meet for a constitutive meeting. On Saturday, the Plenary meeting will be opened by the Co-Chairs of the Conference's Executive Board, Guy Verhofstadt (European Parliament), State Secretary Gašper Dovžan on behalf of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU and European Commission Vice-President Dubravka Šuica.

The discussions will revolve around:

• a presentation with first impressions from the European Citizens' Panels by representatives from each Panel and by the Co-Chairs;
• a report by the representatives from national panels and events;
• a report from the European Youth Event;
• a presentation by the Co-Chairs of the interim reports and state of play on the Multilingual Digital Platform.

The first sessions of the four European Citizens' Panels took place at the European Parliament in Strasbourg in September and October 2021. In each Panel, around 200 citizens from across the Member States debated topics within their respective remit.

The European Citizens' Panels are a central feature of the Conference organised by the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the European Commission. They are an unprecedented transnational and multilingual exercise in deliberative democracy, one that offers European citizens a central role in shaping the future of the EU. The Panels' deliberations will take on board the contributions from the Multilingual Digital Platform and the recommendations stemming from national citizens' Panels and events organised across Member States.

European Youth Event

The European Youth Event (EYE2021) took place on 8-9 October, with 5,000 young people at the European Parliament in Strasbourg and another 5,000 online, to discuss more than 2,000 ideas for shaping the future of Europe. Young panellists from the European Citizens' Panels were invited to participate. The most popular 20 ideas from EYE2021 will be presented by two young participants at the next Plenary of the Conference on the Future of Europe.

Image © European Commission