Due to the EU elections early in the year, Summer was a busy period in Brussels. In the aftermath of the elections, the Council had to make its decisions on the “top jobs”, the president of the European Commission had to be elected, and since then she has been working hard to propose a College of Commissioners to the European Parliament, which is still due to happen.
Ursula von der Leyen’s re-election in July was not assured, as she needed the support of multiple parties – with very divergent agendas. Before the vote on her second mandate, she gave a speech explaining her program. She published her “Political Guidelines” explaining her intentions, commitments, and interpretation of the most important tasks for the EU in the upcoming political cycle. In this document, she committed:
“We must also ensure that decisions taken today do not harm future generations and that there is increased solidarity and engagement between people of different ages. To lead this work, I will appoint a Commissioner whose responsibilities will include ensuring intergenerational fairness.“
This commitment represented a turning point in JESC’s Future Generations campaign and opened a possibility that very few believed a year ago. The FGI coalition immediately drafted a Mission Letter for the new Commissioner, suggesting to the reelected president’s team some points seen as crucial to make this role effective:
- Strengthening the legal protection of Future Generations – Building on the Treaties of the EU, the rights of Future Generations have to be operationalized and developed.
- Make foresight an integral part of law-making in the European Commission – Testing the feasibility, and risks and comparing the plans with the anticipated future challenges is crucial to long-term decision-making.
- Make strategic decisions participatory – Citizens need to plan, understand and endorse long-term priorities and the pathways that lead us there. Their presence is also a crucial tool in representing the generations who were not yet born.
The FGI campaign’s next step will focus on telling this message to the EU institutions. An article was published on Project Syndicate, and similar texts were published by the partners EEB and Zoe Institute.
In a few weeks, JESC will organize a hybrid Future Generations Conference, where high-level experts on the topic will come together to discuss this new portfolio in depth. (For those who might be interested, there are still some on-site places available.)
Regarding the “finish line”, there’s still a lot of uncertainty around the new Commission, and the uncertainty will last until the end. Soon, Ursula von der Leyen will present to the European Parliament her proposal for the portfolios, and the Mission Letter to the Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness will be available. Hopefully, Future Generations will then gain a strong ally, and the next steps in this collaboration between the EU and civil society will have to be discerned.
Béla Kuslits
Senior Ecology Officer
