Minister Tuppurainen to attend plenary session of Conference on the Future of Europe in Strasbourg

Minister for European Affairs Tytti Tuppurainen will attend the seventh and final plenary session of the Conference on the Future of Europe in Strasbourg on 29–30 April. At the plenary session, the representatives will draw up a proposal for the final report of the Conference on the Future, which will be published on 9 May 2022.

This spring, the plenary sessions of the Conference on the Future have discussed the views presented by citizens in the Member States and at the EU level on future challenges and opportunities facing the EU. Based on citizens’ views, the plenary session will formulate its proposal for the conference’s executive board. After the final plenary session, the executive board will finalise the report on the discussions held during the conference and the proposals raised by citizens. The report will be submitted to the Presidents of the Council, the Commission and the European Parliament on Europe Day, 9 May. After this, the institutions will consider the proposals and decide on further measures to be taken within their mandates and in line with the EU Treaties.

“Finland has made an exceptional investment in the Conference on the Future with the ‘We are Europe’ tour. For example, we organised the northernmost event of the entire EU in Utsjoki, where the Sámi people, the only indigenous people in the EU, were invited to share their thoughts and ideas about the Union’s activities. Together with our partners, we also organised an event in Oulu where young people from the Barents Region – which includes Norway and Russia in addition to Finland and Sweden – had the opportunity to share their thoughts about the future of Europe. It is important that these messages from citizens are taken into account in the conclusions,” says Minister Tuppurainen.

The composition of the conference plenary includes, among others, 108 representatives from the European Parliament, 108 representatives from all national Parliaments, 108 Europeans, and representatives from a variety of European partners. Finland considers it important to highlight the strong youth component of the conference: the Finnish citizen representative is 20-year-old Ninni Norra, who was selected by the Finnish National Youth Council Allianssi.

As part of the conference, Finland organised the ‘We are Europe’ series of events last autumn and early this year. A total of 19 events were organised around the country, from Helsinki to Utsjoki. Each discussion was attended by a government minister, with altogether 12 ministers taking part. The events were organised in cooperation with a variety of partners, such as cities. In February, the Government published a summary the discussions held during the series of events and the views Finns expressed about the future of Europe. 

The discussions revealed that Finns want the EU to take concrete action to combat climate change, to assume a stronger role in guaranteeing security, and to develop a common migration and asylum policy. A unifying theme raised in the discussions was the importance of strengthening the EU’s resilience to crises. The common values of the EU, such as democracy, the rule of law, fundamental rights, equality and minority rights, also featured prominently in many of the discussions.

The Conference on the Future kicked off on Europe Day, 9 May 2021, and will wrap up exactly one year later on 9 May 2022. Its goal was to hear the views of citizens on the future challenges and opportunities facing the EU.

Inquiries: Topi Juga, Specialist, EU Affairs, tel. +358 50 407 1216, and Saara Pokki, Special Adviser, tel. +358 45 679 6363, Prime Minister’s Office