ZAGREB, September 10, 2019 – European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday said that Vice-president-designate for Democracy and Demography, Croatian Dubravka Šuica, would be responsible for organising a conference on the future of Europe which should present what sort of European Union its citizens desire.
The conference will start in 2020 and will continue for two years. It has been designed to be a forum to connect European citizens, civil society organisations and European institutions with the aim of encouraging Europeans to say what sort of Union they want and how to manage it.
Šuica who has been an MEP, was nominated on Tuesday for the position of vice-president for democracy and demography.
She will be responsible on behalf of the EC for the Conference on the Future of Europe. That is a huge, vital process for our democracy. She will work closely with the European Parliament and the Council of the EU. It is very important to implement that programme in the next two and a half years, von der Leyen said.
Referring to Šuica’s portfolio von der Leyen said that this is a fantastic area that includes topics such as searching for balance between work and family life and an ageing labour force.
A lot can be done here, von der Leyen said noting that there are cities and regions that have successfully shown that the trend can be turned around to stop the population decrease.
“We want to bring new impetus to Europe’s democracy. This is our joint responsibility. Democracy is more than voting in elections every 5 years. It is about having your voice heard and being able to participate in the way society is built,” the EC president added.
One of the EC’s five new vice-presidents, Šuica has been elected to the European Parliament three times. She was a vice-president of the EP Committee on Foreign Affairs, and of the EP delegation for relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo. In June this year she became a vice-president of the European People’s Party (EPP).
More news about Dubravka Šuica can be found in the Politics section.
