26 May 2021

At its meeting on 26 May 2021, the Executive Committee approved the calendar of plenary meetings and European Citizens' Panels with a series of events starting next month.

On 19 June 2021, the inaugural plenary session of the Conference will be held in Strasbourg, which will take place in full compliance with health standards, remotely and in presence, and will include presentations of the European Citizens' Panels and the multilingual digital platform.

Within the Conference framework, a European Citizens' Event will be held in Lisbon on 17 June 2021, which will be streamed live online. It will be attended by 27 representatives from national citizens' panels or national events (one per Member State) as well as by the President of the European Youth Forum and some citizens selected for the European Citizens' Panels. The event, also organised in a hybrid format, will give participants the opportunity to discuss their expectations regarding the Conference with the three co-chairs. Participants will also be present at the inaugural plenary session in Strasbourg.

The Executive Committee also took note of the final practical arrangements for the four scheduled European Citizens' Panels, including the themes assigned to each:

• Values, rights, rule of law, democracy, security;
• Climate change, environment/health;
• A stronger economy, social justice, employment/education, youth, culture, sport/digital transformation;
• The EU in the world/migration.

Each panel of European citizens will be composed of 200 citizens to ensure the presence of at least one citizen per Member State. Citizens will be chosen randomly to ensure that they are representative of the diversity of the EU in terms of geographical origin, gender, age, socio-economic background and level of education. Young people aged between 16 and 25 will make up one third of each group.

Guidelines have also been issued to assist Member States and other parties who wish to organise citizens' panels and other events at national, regional or local level as part of the Conference. (Source: European Union)