High-level Event on Democracy & Meeting of Member States on citizen participation

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Submitted by Angela PEREIRA on

High-level Event on Democracy & Meeting of Member States on citizen participation

Michael McGrath, European Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, speaks at the High-Level Event on Democracy
Wide view of the high level event on democracy
Panel on citizen engagement and civic tech
Last month the European Commission held a High-Level Event on Democracy, bringing together representatives from Member States and EU institutions, as well as stakeholders active on democratic innovation and building democratic resilience.

The event, organised by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Justice and Consumer, focused on the European Democracy Shield in several priority areas, from safeguarding the integrity of the information space to boosting societal resilience and citizens’ engagement and strengthening democratic institutions, free and fair elections and free and independent media. 

In the afternoon Director for Innovation in Science & Policymaking at the Joint Research Centre, Jolita Butkevičienė, moderated a discussion on Citizen Participation and Civic Tech together with Niklas Wilhelmsson from the Ministry of Justice, Finland, Wietse Van Ransbeeck of Go Vocal, Assya Kavrakova from ECAS, Dominik Hierlemann from Bertelsmann Stiftung, and Raphael Pouyé from OECD. The session focused on the question: How can digital tools and civic technologies strengthen meaningful citizen participation in Europe? The discussion included a consensus that hybrid participatory models were increasingly the norm, but that we cannot bet on civic tech alone for successful outcomes – various forms of citizen participation need to be utilised depending on their various design formats and contexts.

The day after the high level event, the Commission launched the new Network of National Authorities on Citizen Participation, an initiative under the European Democracy Shield to exchange on good practices and foster collaboration to promote meaningful forms of citizen participation in democratic debates and in public policymaking. At the first meeting in Brussels, the Commission provided an overview of the wider EU policy context with a focus on the third pillar of the European Democracy Shield (boosting societal resilience and citizen engagement) and the 2023 Commission Recommendation on citizen participation. Other connected Commission works strands related to citizen participation were presented and discussed, such as the European Citizens' Panels, the Citizens' Engagement Platform and the work carried out by the Competence Centre on Participatory and Deliberative Democracy to provide training, tools and resources to EU Member States and EU institutions for participatory initiatives at all levels. 

Key focus areas of the network include:

  • Strengthening local-level participation
  • Empowering young people and fostering intergenerational dialogue
  • Providing practical support and tools for national authorities
About the Author
Ângela Guimarães Pereira leads the Competence Centre on Participatory and Deliberative Democracy. Her research and interests focus on different ways of knowing about environment and society, speculative “futuring” and citizen engagement institutionalisation(s). Post-normal science has been inspiring her work on governance of and dialogues about policy, science and technology. She advises on, designs and carries out citizen participation activities in science and policymaking.