The recovery plan agreed in July 2020 is a key step forward. However, it will need to be built on in the process of creating a political and federal union, in order to enable the EU to take back control of major transnational issues through a new European democratic sovereignty. This is the aim of the proposals made here to the Conference on the Future of Europe by Sandro Gozi, MEP, and visiting professor at the Centre of Excellence. Human rights and fundamental freedoms must be front and centre of the political integration project. On that basis, the focus of the new European transformation process should be on digital and ecological transition, which represents a crucial choice for society and for the future. The Union must also set itself the ambition of establishing itself as a new democratic power capable of rising to the key global and regional challenges. A strategy will need to be developed to counter foreign interference in our democratic processes, but also to promote a more humane and more effective migration policy, and to develop European strategic autonomy within a renewed transatlantic alliance. All this requires a rethink of the relationship between Europe and power. To this end, different political and institutional reform options are discussed, emphasizing the possibility of moving forward through a dynamic group of States and peoples in a continental area of variable density. The momentum needed to embark on this new democratic, transnational and humanist phase of European integration will also call for the mobilization of its citizens, European and national institutions, and representatives of organised civil society.