"Public consultations are strategic to collect citizens' opinions and expectations on EU policy issues". This was stated by Deputy Director General of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Communication, Sixtine Bouygues at the Annual Meeting of EDIC, the Europe Direct Information Centres, which was held in Prague from 9 to 11 October. The CNEL has participated through the Europe Direct Centre "Europa Insieme", active at Villa Lubin since 2018, in collaboration with the European Movement and the Lazio Region, and it presented the document "HOW ITALIANS SEE EUROPE, the results of CNEL public consultation on the future of Europe ”, the English version of the “Journal” on the results of the public consultation on the future of Europe.

During the meeting, the political priorities of the new European Commission were illustrated and the role of Europe Direct centres in the dissemination of information in the various countries of the EU was discussed.

The tool of consultations, as Deputy Director General Bouygues wished to emphasize, is of particular concern to President Ursula von der Leyen, in order to detect the sentiments of the citizens of the member countries in preparation for the Conference on the future of Europe to be held in 2020.

The public consultations of the CNEL are carried out on the basis of article 10 (reinforced procedures) of the new Regulation of the Bodies of the National Council of Economy and Labour, approved by the Assembly on 12 July 2018, which, in paragraph 1, letter c) provides for the tool of "public consultation open to all citizens, through the institutional website" to acquire citizens' opinion on a topic of general interest.

Carried out from 28 January to 21 March 2019, it registered the participation of over 13,500 citizens, including thousands of young people. A second public consultation on road safety has already been scheduled and will start before the end of October. During this Consultation, CNEL will also propose an institutional collaboration to the European Commission Representation in Italy.

In Prague, the EDIC set up at the CNEL announced the launch of a table of confronts, coordinated by the European Movement Italy, with the aim of identifying valuable suggestions in preparation for the Conference on the future of Europe in 2020.

Download here the document “HOW ITALIANS SEE EUROPE”