Citizens must be at the forefront of the CoFoE follow-up [Promoted content]

Citizens must be actively involved in the process of implementing the CoFoE proposals, according to Antonis Kourras, member of the Conference Citizens’ Panels.

Interview with Antonis Kourras, former President of the Cyprus Youth Council and a Cypriot citizens’ representative at the Plenary of the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE).

How did you become a part of the CoFoE Citizens’ Panels?

As Cyprus Youth Council, we have good collaboration with the Cypriot government, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Two weeks before the first CoFoE Plenary in June 2021, I had a call with our Minister of Foreign Affairs who proposed that I represent the citizens of Cyprus during the Conference. I’m now representing the national panels that have been held in my country and therefore speaking on behalf of Cypriot citizens.

How would you describe the process of being a citizen in the panels?

In Cyprus, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the parliament gave the opportunity to civil society organisations and citizens to organise conferences and events discussing Europe’s future as part of CoFoE. For example, our National Youth Council is a partner in the “The 25 Percent Project” led by the European Youth Forum and we had a lot of workshops all over Cyprus to collect ideas and opinions of young Cypriots from all communities and minorities about the future of Europe.

During these panels, was there a specific moment where you felt it would be a valuable memory for you?

Here in Cyprus, I was really honoured to be invited to many events organised by civil society organisations and the parliament. I had my chance to speak up for young people’s needs and rights to decision-makers. What I really like about CoFoE is that we are all treated as equals while working with politicians. I’m really happy about it because this is the first time that such a process is happening, where all of us, politicians and citizens, are sitting at the table to form and shape our common future.

What were the main topics you could raise on behalf of young people in the panels?

The first topic I’m always discussing, not only during CoFoE but also in my entire involvement in the youth sector, is young people’s participation. We have the voice – and we want this voice to be heard, so we need a seat at the table. We young people are very hard-working, we have vision, we are optimistic, and we must be given the chance to share our opinions and talk about our needs and rights, and these must be addressed by politicians.

Inclusiveness is key for successful youth participation. For example, I belong to the Maronite minority of 7,000 people here in Cyprus. As a member of this minority and a young person I find it very important to have the chance to speak about our rights – minority rights and youth rights.

Would you say there is enough space for minorities to raise their voices as part of CoFoE?

To be honest – no. Here in Cyprus, we didn’t have many events organised by civil society with minorities. Some of the recommendations of the European Citizens’ Panels were about minority rights and languages, including the need to protect them. I agree with this but we didn’t have many members coming from minorities to speak up for their needs and rights. We have some people, but there could have been more of them.

I read many of the CoFoE recommendations, especially from my working group dedicated to education, culture, youth and sports. There are no concrete proposals about the LGBTQ+ community and their rights, for example. We have some good recommendations but they could have been done better.

Do you think CoFoE has a political impact on Europe? What do you think could be the follow-up process?

CoFoE is the first process allowing citizens to participate in a democratic decision-making process along with politicians. Of course, we have representatives elected by us but we also need opportunities to be involved in more direct exercises.

An impactful follow-up is what we have been promised by the Commission, Parliament and Council, which made the commitment to implementing the proposals of us citizens. On 9th May, when CoFoE is concluded, we must set up a committee made by citizens to monitor the implementation of the proposals made by the Citizens’ Panels. Citizens must be actively involved in the process of implementing the CoFoE recommendations. We have submitted our ideas but now we want to see what is going to happen – because we don’t want our time and work for Europe to be in vain.

Source: euractiv.com