Comparing The ECIT Draft Statute With Citizens' Proposals From The CoFoE

In this research paper, we will explore the topic of the implementation of a Statute on European Citizenship and the future of citizenship throughout the EU following the Conference on the Future of Europe↗. This one-year-long set of citizen debates allowed EU citizens to express their opinions and put forward new policies for the EU.

This innovative demonstration of citizen participation which came to an end in May 2022 sets a new standard for European-level participatory democracy as it sheds light on what really matters to the EU population.

By analysing the content of the proposals made by citizens during the Conference, we notice an array of subjects of interest, one of which is the demand for the implementation of a Statute on European Citizenship. If this measure doesn’t answer in itself what this Statute would entail, the final report of the Conference is brimming with matters related to EU Citizenship. Indeed, citizens have recommended the establishment of new citizenship rights along with new tools and means to protect, reinforce and extend them. In the area of health, voting, education, information, digitalisation or the environment, EU citizens have shown what they might well include in an overarching EU Citizenship. Through this lens, EU Citizenship would serve as a true and clear added benefit to their own nationality. This result comes naturally since the Conference itself was an exercise in European Citizenship. Paradoxically, this topic was put on the agenda; hence the need for this analysis connecting proposals to the EU’s unique transnational citizenship.