Tensions Between Mediated and Un-Mediated Political Communication in the Future of Europe Debate

The communication of the European Commission on the Conference on the Future of Europe stresses that there will be a connection between the new venue's deliberations and debates on Europe organised since the launch of Jean Claude Juncker's White Paper on the future of Europe. The Commission also emphasises that these consultations have taken place both at national level – under the example of France's Jean Claude Macron – and transnationally in the context of the Commission dialogue's debates in a narrative that suggests that after these debates across the continent the time is reap for decisions on the future. However, there are reasons to be critical with the future of Europe debates between 2017 and 2019, both in relation to the impact and to the quality of the debates. This paper will address particularly the question of the model of deliberation that the practice of the EU institutions has adopted since the mid-2000s that stresses the direct involvement of citizens in consultation and decision making at the cost of a smaller role for organised civil society in comparison with the official doctrine of the early 2000s. The paper will analyse more specifically the struggle of civil society to be recognised officially by the Conference on the Future of Europe and associated to the new round of national consultations.