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Excellent evening in Charleroi where our President Tom Vandenkendelaere and Paul Magnette discussed with the citizens on the Future of Europe. Conclusions: more citizen participation, simpler procedures to arrive at European decisions and more attention at European level for the most disadvantaged were the clear conclusions of the evening. A big thank you to all participants; we are already working on our next event!

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The Conference on the Future of Europe was launched by the EU in May 2021. The COFOE aims to identify the European priorities on medium to long term: which reforms should be made to European policies and institutions and how citizens and civil society can become more involved are topics of discussion.

An important part of the COFOE is citizen participation. Ursula von der Leyen described this as follows: "I want citizens to have their say at a Conference on the Future of Europe, […]. The Conference should bring together citizens, including a significant role for young people, civil society, and European institutions as equal partners."

As European Movement, we want to contribute to the COFOE by bringing the debate to the local level. Following the successful COFOE Citizen Debate in Roeselare, we hosted the same format in Charleroi. Our President Tom Vandenkendelaere and mayor Paul Magnette introduced the theme of the evening and invited the participants to reflect on the future of the Union. After a productive discussion, the following conclusions were drawn: more citizen participation, simpler procedures to arrive at European decisions and more attention at European level for the most disadvantaged.