On October 1st, the Network of Institutions and Leaders for Future Generations (NIFG) had the opportunity to meet Commissioner Micallef and his team to discuss the evolving Strategy on Intergenerational Fairness. The delegation represented EU member-state experts, who shared their experience regarding the most efficient methods to foster long-term governance.
The discussion explored the unique added value of the new EU Commissioner on Intergenerational Fairness. This new portfolio will present its agenda in the upcoming strategy. This document is therefore of crucial importance, despite being formally a non-binding policy document. Long-term questions are present in all the policy areas of the EU; thus, most Commissioners have tasks related to future generations.
- Commissioner Micallef explained that he coordinates with his colleagues, and already 17 other commissioners contribute to the evolving strategy.
- The Commission is also working on establishing legal principles of Intergenerational Fairness. This would be an indispensable ebler in mainstreaming long-term thinking across funding instruments and other processes.
- The Commissioner sees its value in coordination and governance procedures, rather than in specific policy actions (such as tackling climate change, which is the responsibility of another commissioner).
NIFG is a network founded initially to connect public institutions that work for Future Generations, such as the Hungarian Ombudsman for Future Generations, the Gibraltar Commissioner for Sustainable Development or the Lithuanian Parliamentary Committee on the Future. Later, NGOs and think tanks also joined this community, such as JESC, the Zoe Institute, the School of International Futures and the Lab for Future Generations, as well as the Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies.