Conference on the Future of Europe

Belgium aims to reinforce trust in politics as a positive force by making democratic renewal a priority. Democratic functioning must be modernised by striving for simplification and by opening up to new forms of participation. That way, we will enrich our representative democracy with more direct citizen participation in the political decision-making process.

As part of this ambition of democratic renewal and as a founder member of the European Union, a long-term supporter of the European project and as the seat of the European institutions, Belgium has every interest in ensuring that its citizens do not lose confidence in the European Union. In that regard, the Conference on the Future of Europe is a very useful exercise, which Belgium sees as a unique opportunity to make participatory democracy a systematic part of European policy-making.

By experimenting with new forms of citizen participation, such as citizens' cabinets, citizens' dialogues or mixed panels that include citizens selected by drawing lots or otherwise, Belgium wishes to contribute towards the strengthening of participatory democracy and democratic renewal in the European Union. For these reasons, our country has committed to organising national citizens' panels, youth debates, citizens' dialogues and a hackathon as part of the Conference on the Future of Europe.