ZAGREB, 9 May 2022 - Thirteen member states, including Croatia, do not support a proposal to change the European Union treaties, which is one of the conclusions of the Conference on the Future of Europe supported by French President Emmanuel Macron and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The 13 states are Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden.

They say in a non-paper that although they do not rule out any option at this stage, they do not support rash attempts to initiate changes to the treaties, which they say would carry a serious risk of diverting political energy from the important tasks of finding solutions to questions to which citizens expect answers and from the geopolitical challenges Europe is facing.

The 13 member states feel that the EU can successfully manage crises as part of the current treaties, as proven by the fight against COVID-19 and the response to the Russian aggression on Ukraine.

The EU acted fast, finding and applying common and effective solutions. We already have a Europe which functions, we should not rush into institutional reforms to achieve results, the non-paper says.

It criticises the European Parliament, without mentioning it explicitly, for instrumentalising the Conference on the Future of Europe for its institutional interests.

The ideas which citizens put forward at the Conference should speak for themselves and deserve due attention, the non-paper says, adding that they should not be instrumentalised for special institutional interests.

For more, check out our politics section.