Minister Byrne welcomes conclusion of European Citizens Panels

The Minister of State for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne, has congratulated the members of the European Citizens’ Panels who concluded their work over the weekend as part of the Conference on the Future of Europe. Yesterday (Sunday), the final panel concluded its work in Dublin Castle and adopted 48 recommendations. The three other panels had held their concluding sessions in Maastricht, The Netherlands, Florence, Italy and Natolin Poland over the course of the last number of weeks.

Composed of 800 randomly selected citizens from the 27 EU Member States (including sixteen Irish citizens) the four European citizens’ panels have put forward over 170 recommendations. These recommendations are in the areas of health, climate change, values and rights and EU Democracy. The Dublin Panel proposed recommendations in the areas of the economy, social justice, jobs, education, culture, youth, sport and digital transformation. The Recommendations put forward by the Citizens’ Panels will now be discussed in the Plenary Sessions of the Conference which brings together representatives from the 27 EU Member States, national parliaments, the European Parliament, the European Commission and other EU representative bodies and social partners along with ordinary citizens.

Speaking this morning, Minister Byrne said:

"This weekend marked the conclusion of the work of the four European Citizens' Panels. I look forward to discussing and debating these recommendations at the upcoming Plenary sessions of the Conference.

"On my own behalf, and on behalf of the country, I would like to thank these 800 citizens, and in particular the sixteen randomly selected Irish citizens, who have been involved in this process which commenced last autumn. Their work over the last number of months is to be commended and I thank them all for their commitment and contribution to debating this crucial issue of the Future of Europe."