16/09/2025
On 12 September, the European Commission launched its European Citizens’ Panel on Intergenerational Fairness, one of the initiatives supporting the forthcoming Intergenerational Fairness Strategy.
As stated in his mission letter, the European Commissioner for Intergenerational Equity, Youth, Culture and Sport – Glenn Micallef – is responsible for developing an Intergenerational Fairness Strategy, aimed at ensuring that decisions taken today do not harm future generations and promote greater solidarity between people of all ages.
Methodology and Approach
Like other European citizens’ panels, it brings together a diverse group of around 150 citizens selected at random from the 27 Member States, reflecting the diversity of the EU, and gives them the time, space and expertise they need to deliberate, in this case on what intergenerational fairness means in practice.
However, the citizens’ panel is not an isolated step, but rather part of a broader participatory approach in defining the strategy. It is accompanied by other contributions to the Intergenerational Fairness Strategy. In early 2025, the “scoping” and “vision building” phases gathered ideas and reflections from stakeholders and researchers, as well as organising vision exercises and online contributions.
Once delivered, these recommendations will be taken up by the Commission as one of the building blocks for the Intergenerational Fairness Strategy, expected in the first half of 2026. That strategy is intended to serve as a guide for embedding long-term thinking across EU policies, from climate action to economic governance, from digital innovation to social policy. The development of the Intergenerational Fairness Strategy began in early 2025 and is currently in its consultation and co-creation phase, led by the Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), with the final document expected in the first half of 2026.
As a co-creator of the Future Generations initiative, The Good Lobby is actively involved in this process. In addition to meeting with the Commissioner’s office last January and participating in several events dedicated to the development of the strategy, the Future Generation coalition has formulated its core principles, which we believe should form the foundation of the strategy.
Why Intergenerational Fairness?
We are at a crucial moment in history, with more generations coexisting than ever before. Given the climate, economic and demographic challenges we face, it is essential that no generation, whether living today or tomorrow, is left behind. This strategy must therefore ensure that the interests of today’s and tomorrow’s citizens are taken into account in EU policies and legislation in order to guarantee a clean, prosperous and fair future for all generations.
At The Good Lobby, we seek to advance intergenerational justice by advocating for the rights of future generations to be integrated into EU policy and governance, placing long-term thinking at the heart of decision-making.