In the past year, the Future Generations Initiative advocated for three crucial steps that are necessary to safeguard the interests of Future Generations. Yesterday, Ursula von der Leyen unveiled her proposed new College of Commissioners and the Mission Letters, describing the portfolios and mandates for each of the nominees.
Reading the mission letter for Glenn Micallef (Malta) the Commissioner-designate for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport, we compared the contents of this new role with our proposals. In our manifesto, we proposed three key policy asks:
- An interinstitutional declaration on the rights of Future Generations
- A Commissioner for Future Generations
- A Future Generations impact assessment in the Better Regulation guidelines
In our draft Mission Letter for the Commissioner, we asked for three key elements in this new role to make it impactful:
- Legal development is needed to operationalize the rights of Future Generations (essentially the same request as in the interinstitutional declaration).
- Foresight to be integrated into impact assessments for Future Generations.
- Participatory strategic planning for a democratic representation of Future Generations in the legislative process.
In the Mission letter to the new commissioner, we find many elements from these requests, and the overall structure is compatible with our coalition’s vision. Below, we will evaluate the most notable paragraphs.
Citizen’s participation
“This will be part of our work in embedding citizen participation in our work. We will build on the Conference on the Future of Europe to instil a true and lasting culture of participative democracy. We will choose policy areas and proposals where recommendations from a European Citizens’ Panel would have the greatest value and follow up on their proposals.“
This paragraph is part of all Mission Letters. Ursula von der Leyen seems committed to making the Commission’s work more participatory in the next political cycle. In her first term, there have been multiple processes that laid the groundwork for such a move, this may be her strategy to address the “democratic deficit” a critique that is often raised against the European Commission.
We agree with this direction, and we think in considering the interests of Future Generations, participatory methods are an important tool. There is no specific reference for participatory methods for Future Generations, only youth policy dialogues are mentioned specifically, but from the document, it is clear that the President’s intention is broader than that.
Rights of Future Generations
“You will also ensure that decisions are taken with future generations in mind. Solidarity between generations is enshrined in our Treaties and the decisions we take today have long-term consequences for the next generations to come. You should use a strategic foresight approach to look at challenges in this regard.”
The reference to the Treaties is important, this positions Future Generations’ rights as a fundamental legal principle and thus opens the door for later legal development – potentially an interinstitutional declaration. This quote also connects Future Generations with foresight, which is an important methodological step.
How the interests of Future Generations will be integrated into the Foresight work of the European Commission is still an open question, this will be one of the fundamental tasks for the incoming Commissioner. To do so, a Strategy on Intergenerational Fairness will be developed:
“We must ensure that decisions taken today do no harm to future generations and that there is increased solidarity and engagement between people of different ages. You will prepare a Strategy on Intergenerational Fairness to map out how we can strengthen communication between generations and ensure that interests of present and future generations are respected throughout our policy and law making.”
This paragraph promises little but opens the door for many possible developments. Such a strategy would be welcome, even if it is probably less binding than an interinstitutional agreement. A strategy could lay the intellectual groundwork for more ambitious steps and more specific methodologies adopted over the coming years.
Foresight and anticipatory law-making
“You will also take forward the work on strategic foresight to identify trends and research and technology developments that will shape our economies and societies and have an impact on future generations. You will help further strengthen the culture of anticipation and evidence-informed policymaking and ensure our work is future-oriented.”
This paragraph is another important point where foresight is connected to assessing policy impact on Future Generations. While still not explicitly, this paragraph points in the direction of a Future Generations impact assessment, where foresight might be the central methodology.
To make this work, clearly defined priority areas are necessary and solidarity between generations (what do we consider “fair” towards future generations) has to be operationalized legally.
Evaluation
The Future Generations Initiative welcomes this new portfolio. We consider it an important and substantial step forward, while many crucial questions remain open.
A decisive element will be the Strategy on Intergenerational Fairness, which may clarify the legal questions and could propose methodologies (including citizens’ engagement and impact assessment with foresight) that would help legislators consider long-term interests in a realistic, democratic and nuanced process.
We will seek the opportunity to work together with the incoming Commissioner in implementing this important mission.