BROADCASTS.com

The Conference on the Future of Europe is a joint undertaking by the European Parliament, Commission and Council which aims to open a new space for debate and engagement with citizens from all corners of Europe on the future of the EU and incorporate their views on key economic, environmental and geopolitical issues into EU policymaking and strategy. This webinar explores the role of the European Parliament and of national parliaments like the Oireachtas in shaping Europe\u2019s future, and what it may mean for Ireland and the EU. This event is part of a series co-organised with the European Parliament Liaison Office in Dublin ahead of the European Citizens\u2019 Panel.\n\nAbout the Speakers:\n\nGuy Verhofstadt has served as an MEP since 2009, and is a former Belgian Prime Minister and a former president of the Alliance of Liberal Democrats for Europe group (ALDE) in the European Parliament. He is a member of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) and the Delegation for relations with the United States, and was the chair of the European Parliament\u2019s Brexit Steering Group.\n\nDeirdre Clune is an MEP representing Ireland South for Fine Gael and currently serves on the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), as well as the Delegations for relations with the countries of Central America (DCAM) and to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (DLAT). Before joining the European Parliament, she served as Lord Mayor of Cork, T.D. for Cork South-Central and a Senator for the Cultural and Educational Panel.\n\nSenator Alice-Mary Higgins was elected as an Independent on the NUI panel in 2016 to Seanad \xc9ireann, and re-elected in 2020, where she leads the Civil Engagement Group, and is a member of the Committees on Environment and Climate Action, Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, and on Disability Matters. Before her election to the Seanad, she was policy coordinator at the National Women\u2019s Council of Ireland, a member of the Executive of the European Women\u2019s Lobby in Brussels, and has worked for NGOs including the Older and Bolder alliance, Tr\xf3caire and Comhl\xe1mh on homecare, climate change, peace-building and anti-racism.\n\nJane Suiter is a Professor in the School of Communications at Dublin City University (DCU), Director fo the DCU Institute for Future Media, Democracy and Society, and is an expert on the information environment in the public sphere, scaling up deliberation and tackling disinformation. She is the senior Research Fellow on the Irish Citizens\u2019 Assembly on gender equality, a founding member of We the Citizens, Ireland\u2019s first deliberative experiment and a member of the Stewarding Group on the Scottish Citizens\u2019 Assembly and of the OECD's FutureDemocracy network. Professor Suiter was named the Irish Research Council's Researcher of the Year in 2020.