Council on the Future of Europe

Council on the Future of Europe   (Deep state milieu)
Formation	2011
Type	•  think tank •  influence network
Interests	a political union of Europe
Membership	•  Tony Blair •  Juan Luis Cebrián •  Jacques Delors •  Felipe González •  Alain Minc •  Mario Monti •  Robert Mundell •  Rodrigo de Rato •  Nouriel Roubini •  Gerhard Schröder •  Michael Spence •  Joseph Stiglitz •  Matti Vanhanen •  Guy Verhofstadt •  Max von Bismarck •  Nicolas Berggruen •  Sylvie Goulard
A part of Nicolas Berggruen's network

The Council for the Future of Europe is a think tank, established in September 2011, initiated and financed by the Nicolas Berggruen Institute. Its main purpose is to pay politicians more than 10,000 euros just for being part of the group - and maybe other undisclosed counter-obligations.

Purpose

In its manifesto it calls for a political union of Europe:

...It will be necessary to further lay out a vision of a federation that goes beyond a fiscal and economic mandate to include a common security, energy, climate, immigration and foreign policy as well as develop a common narrative about the future of the union and its place in the world...

...Nation states will need to share certain dimensions of sovereignty to a central European entity that would have the capacity to source revenue at the federal level in order to provide European-wide public goods...

It aims to:

...recommend a way forward and then lobby for that course at the European Commission, the Council and Parliament as well as with the leaders of individual members states...

Location

It had offices in Los Angeles and Berlin.

People

Founding members are: Tony Blair, Juan Luis Cebrián, Jacques Delors, Felipe González, Alain Minc, Mario Monti, Robert Mundell, Rodrigo de Rato, Nouriel Roubini, Gerhard Schröder, Michael Spence, Joseph Stiglitz, Matti Vanhanen, Guy Verhofstadt and Max von Bismarck.

In May 2013, the Council held a “town hall” meeting endorsed by the French President Francois Hollande, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, and Italian labor minister. The Council and Germany’s labor minister, Ursula von der Leyen, proposed an economic program for Europe. The program eventually became a part of European policy in January 2015 when European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker proposed the 315 billion euro Investment Plan.

Corruption charges

Sylvie Goulard worked in parallel with her position as a member of the European Parliament and for twenty-seven months (from October 2013 to January 2016), as a special advisor within the Council on the Future of Europe]] of the Berggruen Institute. She indicated income of above 10,000 euros gross monthly (and probably between 12,000 and 13,000 euros per month) from this advisory "job". Her contribution was limited to co-editing two notes of about fifteen pages each, coordinating collective reports, and participating in the organization of conferences in Madrid and Brussels and some other meetings.

The French Anticor association filed a complaint against Sylvie Goulard in December 2019 on suspicions of passive corruption, passive influence peddling and abuse of confidence. The association indicated suspecting the existence of another service from her in exchange for her remuneration of more than 324,000 euros.