14-10-2024
Recent developments have shown the European Commission’s willingness to move forward on integrating the needs of future generations in EU decision-making processes and implement a more long-term approach in policy-making. Ursula von der Leyen’s commitment in her political guidelines to ‘ensure that decisions taken today do not harm future generations’ and the appointment of a Commissioner-designate responsible for ‘Intergenerational Fairness’, have marked a turning point in European policy.
To discuss the topic with an interdisciplinary approach, the Jesuit European Social Centre (JESC), the Catholic University of Leuven and the University of Barcelona jointly organised the Future Generations Conference on 3 October, which brought together leading academics, representatives of civil society and EU officials.
Mr Daniel Calleja Crespo, Director General of the European Commission Legal Service, pointed out in his speech that intergenerational solidarity is a fundamental principle of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. In doing so, he stated that the European Union not only wishes to show greater concern for future generations, but is also legally bound to maintain the link between the immediate measures taken by the European institutions and their long-term consequences.
What can we expect from the new Commission?
After recalling a number of points and initiatives already put in place by the European Union with regard to young people and future generations, Mr Calleja Crespo presented 7 concrete measures that the new Commission wishes to put in place during its next mandate:
- The appointment for the first time of a Commissioner responsible for International Fairness who will play a horizontal role in many areas of crucial interest to future generations and will be responsible for the measures described below.
- Look at the impact of social media and excessive screen time on young people and lead an action plan against cyberbullying.
- Set up a strategy on intergenerational fairness and map out ways to strengthen communication between generations to ensure that the interests of present and future generations are respected throughout the policies.
- Implement -within the first 100 days of the mandate- the first edition of the annual Youth Policy Dialogues which will enable young people to be heard and to help shape the Commission’s work.
- Set up the Youth Advisory Board which includes two roles, advising on issues related to young people and acting as a sounding board for the ideas developed by the Commission.
- Implement a Youth Check in its decision making process in order to evaluate the impact of new proposals on young people.
- Put in place the Comprehensive 2019-2027 EU Youth Strategy which will include policy dialogues with commissioners, Youth Mainstreaming Round Tables and a new Youth Stakeholders’ Platform to facilitate the continuous exchange with youth researchers, Member States representatives and other institutions.
Unfortunately, even if the new European Commission seems determined to safeguard the needs and interests of future generations, the concrete actions it proposes seem to include mainly the younger generations, and fail to take into account the generations not yet born. In order to ensure intergenerational fairness, the Commission should, therefore, adopt more ambitious measures and develop a longer-term approach to encompass the generations yet to come.
Our coalition has put forward the following reform proposals:
- Develop an interinstitutional declaration on the rights of Future Generations providing a robust framework that guarantees the protection and advancement of the rights of Future Generations, while also including commitments of the three EU institutions to incorporate protections for Future Generations into legal frameworks and policies.
- Nominate a Future Generations Commissioner with a broad, horizontal portfolio and acting as first vice-president with the a key competence of showing how Future Generations are impacted by decisions.
- Set up a Future Generations’ Impact Assessment within the Better Regulation Guidelines that will include intergenerational justice as a key principle for any law-making.