European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has made the Commission’s position on citizen participation clear in the Mission Letters to Commissioners designate and Vice-Presidents designate. In each of them, she states “This Commission will start a new era of dialogue with citizens and stakeholders […] We will build on the Conference on the Future of Europe to instil a true and lasting culture of participatory democracy”, and asks that all Commissioners “organise a first edition of the Annual Youth Policy Dialogues within the first 100 days so that young people can be heard and can help shape your work.” At the same time, the Commission will introduce a new European Democracy Shield to address the most severe risks to democracy in the EU. This political agenda gives continuity to a series of initiatives developed over the Commission’s mandate 2019-2024 that spanned experimentation, capacity building, legal basis development and embedment of citizen participation practices in the Commission’s work.

For our part at the CC-DEMOS, we continue to support the implementation of the 2023 Recommendation “Promoting the engagement and effective participation of citizens and civil society organisations in public policy-making processes”, which encourages MSs to provide more opportunities for citizens and civil society organisations to participate in authority-led public policymaking processes, and capacity building in the Commission. In 2025, we will be paying particular attention to institutionalisation, evaluation and monitoring of impacts of CE in Member States in line with the Recommendation. As part of our methodological toolbox, we will be using the Corporate Guidance on Citizen Engagement that provides a “how to” guide on design and methodologies of citizen engagement.

We'll also be supporting the Commission's new civic tech platform - the Citizens' Engagement Platform - which allows a broader range of citizens to participate and to have a say on the key EU issues under discussion, regardless of their background and geographical location. Two new participatory processes are already being planned for 2025.

Looking at our specific work plan, our training offering is expanding in 2025 with a new citizen engagement training for national, regional and local authorities, as well as trainers. The new training will be hosted by EU Academy and offered during the whole year across two semesters.

The Competence Centre also has some exciting thematic projects coming up in 2025, including the ‘Young Citizens Assembly on Pollinators’. CC-DEMOS is co-managing the design, implementation and evaluation of the Assembly, which is informed by the several pilots of citizen engagement processes carried out under the Science and Technology for Pollinating Insects project.

In Spring we will publish our report on Citizen Engagement Impact in Policy, Institutions and Society, which explores both the impact of the Commission’s citizen engagement initiatives on policy and also more widely on institutions in Member States and broader society. 

So, going forward, we encourage you to connect with us for a collaborative and inclusive Community of Practice. Reach out to us directly at EU-CITIZEN-ENGAGEMENT@ec.europa.eu, and don’t forget that every two months we hold ‘Competence Centre Corners’ to meet new people, and for anybody who would like to know more about what we do. You can find out more about these in the events section on our website or through the newsletter.