This year — 2023 — is special because November 1st will mark the 30^th anniversary of the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty which created Union Citizenship. This is an opportunity to think about the meaning of European Citizenship, what it has achieved so far, where it is today and its future prospects. A chance for lateral thinking and taking the long view.

The 8th Edition of the ECIT Annual Conference will take place on 31 October 2023, and, as last year, it will be held both at the Press Club in Brussels and remotely, with the aim of attracting — for this special anniversary year — a larger audience both on the spot and online. Our aim is that the Spanish Presidency should explain the original aims of their government in proposing Union Citizenship. A high-level panel of policy makers and writers should explain the past, and how this unique transnational citizenship came into being whilst attempting to assess its successes and failures. The main emphasis of the rest of the programme will be to allow participants more time in working groups to put forward proposals for the future development of European Citizenship and the Statute. 

You can read the concept note below for this one-day event.