Building the Europe we want
A series of e-packs, available to the public, in both English and Maltese, have recently been launched by the European Parliament Liaison Office in Valletta.
The packs are intended to provide the necessary background, current opinions and events on each topic that has been identified as a key priority during the ongoing Conference on the Future of Europe and on the Citizens’ Platform:
During an online launch, “Building the Europe that We Want”, which was hosted by Ms Ingrid Godkin, from the Cabinet of Vice President Dubravka Šuica, MEP Josianne Cutajar as one of the 108 representatives together with Vice President Roberta Metsola who were chosen to be part of the Conference’s plenaries and Mr Jean Paul Zammit and Claire Gafa, from the Malta Association for Community Development, civil society and youth.
“Democracy is not static so we must ensure that it continues to evolve” Ms Godkin said in her introductory remarks. She spoke at length on how the guiding principle throughout this Conference should be to keep the citizens at heart and ensuring that every voice is heard and how a specialised feedback mechanism will help decision-makers give feedback back to citizens.
In turn MEP Josianne Cutajar noted that while EU citizens expect Europe to act upon their needs, citizens’ expectations are often not met.
“Youth must drive the conversations and the Parliament’s task is to set the vision” she said. “I want a more social Europe that leaves no one behind, not even islands on the periphery” she said and went on to tell the young people present “Go, engage, propose ideas, use the platform”.
Mr Jean Paul Zammit and Ms Claire Gafa, from the Malta Association for Community Development talked about the more local and grass-root-driven need for community and their role in what is always a work in progress.
In the context that talking about Europe should be driven in the same way a community is driven by identifying a need, Dr Mario Sammut, Head of EP Office in Malta, led the debate after the presentation of the e-packs, saying that the Conference is an important process where citizens have the opportunity to tell Europe what Europe they want. He expressed the hope that with these e-packs citizens will have a clearer picture and of what and how you can do it.
The European Parliament Liaison Office’s e-packs on the Future of Europe, are free to download from: