Abstract
ABSTRACT The Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) was the ‘first transnational, multilingual and interinstitutional exercise of deliberative democracy’ at the EU level, aiming to give citizens the opportunity to shape the Union’s future. This paper critically reflects on how the deliberative process was designed, framed and implemented, and its implications for climate policy. Methodologically, I follow a mixed-method qualitative design, including a document review of the official reports, nine semi-structured interviews with key actors, and observation during two related events. The research findings indicate that depoliticization accompanied the entire process, especially unfolding via the broad and neutral framing of the European Citizens Panels and the scarce presence of civil society during the process. As a result, the resulting proposals are mostly in line with current climate policies, therefore rather serving as a legitimacy tool. In addition, this prevented citizens from developing a holistic understanding of the climate and environmental crises, overlooking its connections with global justice and the political economy, and without opening up the space for contesting the EU’s main discourses and trajectories.
Published Version
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