Post-doctoral researcher Maastricht University
Alvaro Oleart is a post-doctoral researcher at the at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of Maastricht University, and a scientific collaborator at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. He is the author of the book Framing TTIP in the European public spheres: Towards an Empowering Dissensus for EU integration (2021), published by the series Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology. His fields of interest are the European public sphere, the role of civil society in the EU policy-making, EU trade policy, populism and democracy in Europe, and the analysis of discourse and narratives.
The paper outlines a vision of the ongoing Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) from various perspectives and sets out proposals regarding how it should develop in order to contribute to making the EU more democratic. First, the paper discusses further steps the Conference should take towards bridging the gap between EU and national politics.
Second, the paper analyses previous initiatives of treaty reforms which may be incorporated into the Conference on the Future of Europe. Third, the paper lays out the visions of Europe in a half-century’s time among EU Commission officials. Last, the paper discusses citizens’ involvement in shaping EU future through a broader process of European deliberative democracy, and how the CoFoE could advance such a perspective.
Read the paper:
Citizens’ Europe - An institutional turn for an ever-democratic union?
Political Mentor: S&D MEP Domènec Ruiz Devesa
Academic Mentor: Michael Holms, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Liverpool Hope University
History and Policies of the European Union
