The CoR plenary session was fraught with tension as ECR members expressed their reservations over the CoR draft resolution on the Conference on the Future of Europe. 

President of the ECR Group, Marshal Władysław Ortyl, was first to express his many concerns and reservations not only on the procedure of adopting such a resolution but also on its contentious content, especially with regard to the provisions on "conditionality for granting and suspending EU funds, and on the reform of electoral systems and transnational electoral lists". 

For the Marshal, the first most logical step would have been to comment and analyse the report of the CoR's High Level Group on European Democracy once published and only then to proceed with preparations for the draft resolution. 

Next to take the floor was recently elected ECR Vice-President Anna Magyar who warned that prejudging the recommendations and conclusions of the Conference could "undermine the legitimacy of this institution [CoR], as citizens' deliberations and debates are still ongoing".

The draft resolution contains a number of controversial provisions from the ECR Group perspective, including calls for: upgrade of the CoR status to that of a co-legislator; transnational electoral lists; gender impact assessments for each newly proposed EU legislation; and abandoning unanimity voting in areas such as taxation. 

The text also calls for local and regional authorities to have direct access to EU climate funds and to be able to establish their own migrant reception programmes, independently from central governments. According to the ECR President, these proposals would effectively contribute to rendering a nation state obsolete. 

Given the strong reservations, the ECR Group decided not to support this draft resolution and tabled a number of amendments during the CoR plenary session.