Nearly half of EU citizens uninterested in having a say on bloc's future, survey reveals

People crowd Via del Corso shopping street in Rome
People crowd Via del Corso shopping street in Rome Copyright Credit: AP
By Euronews
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A Eurobarometer survey found that 48% of citizens do not want to be involved in the Conference on the Future of Europe, a continent-wide consultation of EU citizens on want they want from the bloc.

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Nearly half of European Union citizens have no interest in taking part in a continent-wide listening exercise on the future of the bloc, according to a survey.

A Eurobarometer poll found that 48% of people are against the idea of taking part in the Conference of the Future of Europe - a mass consultation being organised by all three EU institutions to determine what citizens want from the European project.

The conference, first proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron before the 2019 EU elections, was supposed to start in May last year but has stalled until now due to institutional infighting over who should lead it.

The presidents of the three European institutions signed a joint declaration on Wednesday in the European Parliament, signifying the start of the public consultation.

Eric Mauric, from the Robert Schuman Foundation, says the idea of the project is to listen to as wide a range of views as possible.

"The challenge is to listen to everyone, to listen to as many Europeans as possible and to try to draw up a common inventory of the challenges facing the European Union and to try to have a common vision or at least a homogeneous vision of the expectations of Europeans, not only of their governments, their economic or political representatives but also of the citizens themselves," Mauric told Euronews.

The outcome of the consultation is expected in spring next year.

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