Brussels, 8/9 December 2007: Participants and project partners of the European Citizens? Consultations (ECC) and the five other so-called ?Plan D projects? were invited by the European Commission to speak about their experiences with and the outcomes of the projects they had participated in. A total of 250 participants from all over Europe thus gathered in Brussels and joined various workshops during a two-day conference.

The conference was opened by Margot Wallstr?m, Vice-President of the Commission, and moderated by Pat Cox, former president of the European Parliament. Various citizens who had participated in the ECC events gave interviews, discussed the project results in workshops and shared their expectations regarding the next steps with policy-makers.  Via live webstream, the wider public was able to observe the different activities and learn about the participants? impressions.

As a result of the conference, an open letter will be disseminated to EU heads of state and government, representatives of national parliaments, the EU institutions and European political parties addressing the major issues discussed at the Plan D projects. The Commission will present its follow-up conclusions on the Plan D projects in spring 2008. More information on the conference can be found here.

Brussels, 28 November 2007: Gerrit Rauws, Director at the King Baudouin Foundation, the organisation that led the project consortium of the European Citizens? Consultations, was awarded the ?Giving a soul to Europe? prize. The prize was granted by CO.CE.Rome and the European Affairs Advisory Commission of Etterbeek, a commune of Brussels. Gerrit  Rauws received the award for the major part he played in pioneering European projects such as the European Citizens' Consultations and its predecessor project, Meeting of Minds.

Brussels, 7 November 2007: After having written a letter to the European Vice-President of the Commission, Margot Wallstr?m, the UK citizen Helen Duffet who participated in the national citizens consultations and the synthesis event was personally invited by Ms Wallstr?m to write in her blog. To see what Helen wrote about her participation in the events and how it has changed her life, click here.

Brussels, 3 October 2007: ?Communicating Europe in Partnership? is the both the title and the gist of the Commission?s latest proposal to enhance the EU?s communication policy presented by Margot Wallstr?m, Vice-President of the European Commission and responsible for Eu-communication on 3 October 2007. While the Commission wants to step up partnerships between EU institutions and with Member States and broadcasters, it also recognises the need to deepen its relationships with civil society and to build on its experience with various Plan D projects. The Plan D projects successfully involved thousands of citizens from all over the EU into the debate about the future of Europe. The European Citizens? Consultations were the largest of the six projects co-funded by the European Commission.

The Commission expects that a new set of these projects to be conducted in 2008 will help achieve the ?overall objective of supporting the ratification process for the Reform Treaty and increasing participation in the 2009 European Parliament elections? [COM(2007)568, p. 17]. Moreover, ?innovative methods? [p. 13] of the Plan D projects are set to become part of the Commission?s portfolio of qualitative research tools to investigate the public?s opinion and expectations on the EU.

The ECC consortium welcomes the Commission?s commitment to further improving its dialogue with citizens by drawing on the strengths of the Plan D projects and will be happy to assist in implementing proposed activities. As a next step, the Commission will launch a follow-up communication to Plan D and can be expected to further clarify its intended actions.

Brussels, 3 October 2007: A conference on ?Is the EU really listening to its citizens?? organised by ECC-partner organisation ECAS on 3 October 2007 attracted a broad audience comprising representatives of the EU institutions, researchers, civil society, media and other interested stakeholders. The conference was part of the European Citizens? Consultations outreach activities. Divided into three parts, the debate included an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of different participatory democracy techniques, how to actually build on the results from citizens? deliberations and how to better coordinate different mechanisms and projects that are already in place. After lunch, Margot Wallstr?m joined the group to present the Commission?s new communication ?hot off the press?.  

In the first session, Helen Duffet described her full-fledged experience with citizens participation based on the European Citizens? Consultations (ECC) project. She was randomly selected to participate in the national event in the UK and volunteered to take part in the Synthesis Event in May this year. Being housewife and mother ?by profession?, Helen spoke about the need to build bridges, both mental and concrete ones, that must lead somewhere: True citizen participation ensures that communication is two-way and that people are ?involved directly in matters that directly affect them?. Click here to read her full speech.

Gerrit Rauws of the King Baudouin Foundation, the lead organisation of the ECC consortium, participated in the last group of speakers and presented ideas about how citizen consultation projects like ECC could be used as an integral part of EU decision-making processes. The challenge but also the fascination of such projects is their cross-border nature: differences in language and culture, how to bring them all together, how to identify issues that they at their heart, and how to give all of them a voice. However, it is of particular importance to show citizens that they are taken seriously and that their results count. Therefore, mechanisms need to be in place to ensure that their results feed into formal decision-making processes and are followed up.

A video summarising the event can be found here:

http://www.q-stream.tv/euractiv/20071008.wmv

Latvia, September 2007: The EU Information Agency in Latvia, an official state institution dealing with EU-information, is currently working on EU fact sheets that take into account their citizens' visions and recommendations developed during the Latvian Citizens' Consultation earlier this year. The fact sheets will include issues that were also of particular concern to Latvian citizens, such as civil society and the EU, enlargement, social systems and EU cultural policy. This is the first time that the citizens' hopes and concerns find direct entry into official information and education material. The Latvian citizens' perspectives on the future of Europe can be found here. The comprehensive European Citizens' Perspectives are available here in various languages.

Can citizen participation serve as an effective public affairs tool? This is the opinion of a jury consisting of top-level communication experts representing the German PR association (DPRG). On 14 September 2007, they selected the European Citizens? Consultations project as winner in the category ?Lobbying and Public Affairs?. This is the first time the prestigious award was given to a political dialogue project. The European Citizens? Consultations prove a successful example of how dialogue and participatory processes can be implemented in a way that suits the current political context and enables citizens? involvement across the boundaries of language, culture and geography.

On 3 October 2007, the second follow-up event at European level will be organised in Brussels (Residence Palace) in cooperation with ECAS, the European Citizen Action Service. Under the headline "Is the EU really listening to its citizens?", the event shows ways forward in citizen participation and what the EU can learn from the European Citizens? Consultation project. It thereby sheds light on the participatory democracy methods which are now being proposed to the EU Institutions as a new channel of communication. For more information on the event, go here (right column).

On Sunday, 22 July 2007, Danny Casteleyn, participant of the Belgian citizen consultation and the synthesis event, was invited to join the live debate on migration and to ask direct questions to Franco Frattini, EU Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security. While the two were connected via phone, viewers all over Europe and beyond were able to follow the discussion on the BBC World Service Radio and the BBC website.

Mr Casteleyn presented the main results of the European Citizens' Consultations (ECC) regarding migration and emphasised the high level of consensus among citizens from all 27 Member States who took part in the ECC project: citizens proved conscious of the need to control borders in order to prevent from illegal migration. Yet, they were strongly in favour of legal migration aware of the benefits of exchanging knowledge and experience.

Asked about how high the level of acceptance of legal migration was among Member States, Mr Frattini stressed the fact that a global approach was required in order to strengthen the management of borders. It was necessary to avoid, what he calls, ?migration shopping?, where migrants arriving in one Member State choose to travel on to another where the level of acceptance of illegal migration is higher. Therefore, he continued,  it was crucial to explain to Member States that legal migration had to be managed also at European level.

To watch the entire "Have your say" programme on migration, click here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/talking_point_programme/default.stm# and select the programme of 22 July 2007.

Brussels, 7 June 2007: What are the policy implications of the 'Citizens' Perspectives on the Future of Europe'? How can the results feed into the debate on the future of Europe at a time when European leaders are to decide on the future of the European Union? These were the questions discussed at a policy dialogue organised by the European Policy Centre (EPC) on 6 June bringing together three participants of the European Citizens' Consultations with policy-makers, policy experts and European journalists.

Helen Duffett from the UK, Danny Casteleyn from Belgium and Silvi Teesalu from Estonia presented the citizens' policy recommendations to EU decision-makers. The panel discussion was led by former EU Commissioner Antonio Vitorino who welcomed the European Citizens? Consultations as "a most innovative exercise in trying to reach heart and soul of the citizens".

Looking over the outcome documents of the European Citizens' Consultations, Alojz Peterle, MEP and former Prime Minister of Slovenia, noted that citizens in some policy areas expected from the EU more than its actual competences allowed it to do. The high-ranking of family policy in the Citizens' Perspectives surprised part of the panelists and participants in the event - and prompted Antonio Vitorino to call for action: "If we want that the ECC results have an impact, that the EU plays a role e.g. in family issues, we have to insist and to push. It took the Member states only two years between rejecting that energy becomes a common policy and deciding on the contrary." 

Convinced that elements of the citizens' deliberations will feed the MEPs' speeches, Alojz Peterle considers the added-value of the European Citizens' Consultations to be their character as a bottom-up process.  Anne-Sophie Parent, director of AGE (European Older People's Platform), said that the results provided  European civil society organisations with new arguments. Margot Wallstr?m, Vice-President of the European Commission, told the audience that she had already reported to her colleagues in the college about the European Citizens' Consultations. She underlined the role that could play the Commissioners: "Many of them have made their own very positive experiences with ECC visiting the national consultations in their own countries. ECC will have an impact.?

Brussels, 9-10 May 2007: Representatives of the 1,800 citizens who took part in the biggest-ever pan-European debate on the future of Europe handed over their report to EU policy-makers in the European Parliament on 10 May 2007. They called on Europe?s politicians to take their views into account as they prepare to take key decisions on the Union?s future. The report summarises the outcome of the national consultations which have taken place in all 27 EU Member States since February this year. It reveals a surprising degree of consensus on the way forward in some areas, as well as significant differences in others. The report includes:

• Calls for the EU to play a stronger role in family and social welfare policies, with citizens suggesting that it should do far more to encourage Member States to pursue active family and social policies in a wide range of areas, including health care and employment, and ensure basic minimum standards;
• Widespread support for a pan-European response to immigration and integration issues, and calls for the EU to make greater use of external relations policy tools such as development aid to tackle the root causes of migration, as well as focusing on issues such as border controls;
• Calls for the EU to be given stronger powers to develop a common energy policy and ensure that Member States live up to the commitments they have made at European level.

At the Synthesis Event citizens met European Commission Vice-President Margot Wallstr?m, European Parliament Vice-President G?rard Onesta and Jean-Luc Dehaene MEP, former Vice-Chairman of the Convention on the Future of Europe, to hand over their report. The ?European Citizens? Perspectives on the Future? are also being sent to other key decision-makers in the EU institutions, and a series of follow-up events on EU as well as on national level are planned to discuss both the content and the process which led to it.

To read the full citizens? report, click here.

To read the  expert commentaries on the report, click here.

To read the full press release, click here.

After citizens from all 27 Member States have participated in the European Citizens' Consultations, the project is going into its next phase. Representatives from all 27 member states will gather in Brussels on 9-10 May to synthesize the national Citizens? Perspectives into one outcome document: the ?European Citizens? Perspectives on the Future of Europe?. On May 10, citizens will be joined by Margot Wallstr?m, Vice-President of the European Commission. She discusses with them the results and how they relate to current actions and initiatives at European level in the relevant fields. June 6^th marks the official beginning of the follow-up process. A small number of selected citizens joins a panel of policy-makers at a policy dialogue organised in cooperation with the European Policy Centre (EPC). The panel members together with the audience and journalists engage into an in-depth discussion about the policy implications of the perspectives.

Bucharest, Karlstad, Madrid, Nicosia, St. Julian?s, Tampere, Turin, Vienna, Vilnius, York, 24-25 March 2007: Over the last two months about 1500 randomly selected citizens from all EU member states reflecting the diversity of the European population came together in 27 national consultations on the occasion of the first-ever European Citizens? Consultations. They all dedicated a whole weekend to debating the future of Europe, thereby giving voice to their visions and expectations and exchanging views with their European fellow citizens gathered in similar consultations at the same time. Energy & environment, family & social welfare, the EU?s role in the world & immigration were at the heart of discussion. These topics were chosen in October 2006 by 200 randomly selected European citizens convened in an Agenda-Setting Event in Brussels.

Analogue to the results of the previous national consultations, this weekend?s round also expressed the vision of an environmental-friendly Europe with strong powers and ambitious goals in energy policy. Citizens furthermore pleaded for a stronger role of the EU in social matters as well as in external affairs. Margot Wallstr?m, Vice-President of the European Commission, addressed the participants of the Swedish Citizens' Consultation in a special video message telling them that "ever since the constitution was voted against in the Netherlands and in France, we have gradually understood that EU is a top-level project. A project that is not supported by the citizens will not survive. That is why the ECC process is so important."

Already before the event, Alda Anastasi, a participant in the Maltese citizens' consultation rejoiced: "Malta only recently joined the EU but we already feel part of it. We are proud to be Europeans and look forward to exchange ideas on the future of Europe." Through the interconnection of simultaneous national consultations, a truly European discussion across the borders of geography and language emerged. National and European decision-makers attended the closing ceremonies to collect fresh impressions from the vivid discussions and to be handed over the results of the deliberations. They welcomed the European Citizens? Consultations as a successful model of how to bring Europe closer to its citizens? expectations.

Christos Michailidis, 45, from Pafos in Cyprus gave voice to what participants all wished: ?This is something that will bring results and I wish to be taken into account because this concerns the future of us all. I hope we can live in a united Europe which will show in practice its interest in its citizens.?

For an overview of the 10 national consultation outcomes click here. For the individual results of each country, click here.

From snowy Finland to sunny Malta: during the coming weekend of 24-25 March a record number of 10 EU member states will simultaneously debate their visions on the future of the European Union. Citizens from Austria, Cyprus, Finland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Romania, Spain, Sweden and the UK will have their say on the topics of energy & environment, family & social welfare, the EU?s global role & immigration.

National and European policy-makers such as Barbara Prammer (President of the National Council of Austria), Cecilia Malmstr?m (Swedish Minister for EU Affairs), Dr. Michael Frendo (Maltese Minister of Foreign Affairs), Diana Wallis (Vice-President of the European Parliament) and several other Members of the European Parliament will attend the closing ceremony to be handed over the  resulting ?Citizens? Perspectives on the Future of Europe?. For more information on the venue, number of participants and prominent guests click here.

Amersfoort (NL), Athens (GR), Canach (LUX), Lisbon (PT), Odense (DK), Paris (FR), Warsaw (PL), 11 March 2007: ?This project is an excellent idea. It should be extended to schools. Citizenship is learnt at an early age and this is a school of citizenship,? rejoices Jorge Araujo Matos, a 25-year-old from Mirandela in Portugal. And Argiriou Xryssa, 40, from the Greek town of Alexandroupolis, confirms that ?the national consultation provides citizens like me with proper knowledge and abilities so as to take part in the political life of our communities?. Jorge and Argiriou just spent their whole weekend discussing their visions of Europe in specific policy fields. The topics ? energy and environment, family and social welfare, the EU?s global role and immigration - had previuosly been identified by citizens? juries at an Agenda-Setting Event in Brussels last October. ?It is a good opportunity to become aware how difficult it is for politicians to make the trade-off between important objectives and to create a coherent vision, ? affirms a citizen from Luxembourg.

As all 7 national consultations were taking place simultaneously and debated the same topics an exchange of results between the different locations was made possible. The participants enjoyed the idea of developing their perspectives on the future of Europe syncrone with other European countries.

Citizens joined their fellow citizens from the 10 countries having gathered 2 to 4 weeks ago in asking for an increased investment in new technologies for the use of renewable energy sources. They asked for flexible social models allowing to combine family life with a career and for a controlled immigration policy paired with a development policy contributing to economic growth in Europe?s neighbour countries.These results were finalised in ?Citizens? Perspectives on the Future of Europe? and were solemnly handed over to European and national policy-makers which had come as guests.

The Luxembourgish citizens adopted a special vision on identities in Europe. They pledged for a Europe preserving cultural differences whithout denying a common belonging and a Europe encouraging active participation of its citizens.

For more information on the outcomes, venues and guests click here.

Brussels, 7 March 2007: This weekend citizens from Denmark, France, Greece, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Poland and Portugal will also have their say on topics such as energy and environment, family and social welfare,  the EU?s global role and immigration. It will be the third round of national consultations taking place in all the 27 EU Member States between February and March, the fourth and last being on 24-25 March. The 270 citizens participating in this third round will finalise their visions on Europe and their expectations about the EU?s role in ?Citizens? Perspectives on the Future of Europe?. These will be handed over to European and national politicians, among them Viviane Reding (European Commissioner for Information Society and Media), Antonio Vittorino (Former EU-Commissioner), Nicolas Schmit (Minister for European Affairs of Luxembourg), Han ten Broeke (Minister for European Affairs of the Netherlands) and several EU- and national Parliamentarians.

Berlin, Bratislava, Brussels, Budapest, Riga, 25 February 2007: ?I had never thought about Europe. For the last week, I have started thinking about it and just could not stop!? rejoices Jean-Gabriel Steffens, 60, from Malm?dy in Belgium. ?The event is fantastic! I have met a lot of interesting people. Everybody had the possibility to voice their opinion and everybody dared to do that ? everyone made their voice heard,? claims Veronika H?ttl, a 25-year-old student from Munich who was one of 450 Europeans from another five Member States ? Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Latvia and Slovakia - joining in the European Citizens' Consultations this weekend. They debated common visions of Europe and gave voice to their expectations from Europe. The results can be found in the ' National Consultations' section.

For most of the participants the citizens' consultations were a unique experience: "I learned a lot about democracy and participation. Everyone could voice their opinion and all voices were heard. I have never experienced something like this", tells G?nter Langanke, 63, a pensioner from Berlin.

European Commissioner J?n Figel', Guy Verhofstadt (Belgian Prime Minister), Dr. Kinga G?ncz (Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs), Artis Pabriks (Latvian Foreign Affairs Minister), G?nter Gloser (German Minister of State for Europe)  and other leading European politicians attended the citizens' debate on the future of Europe. Politicians joined citizens in expressing the wish for further similar consultations. Dr. Kinga G?ncz stressed that "it is important that we do not only talk with politicians but that the voices of citizens are heard - that they have a say." And she added: "We need to continue European Citizens? Consultations."

The next consultation round in two weeks will assemble an even larger group of 7 Member States. This group will connect national consultations in France, Netherlands and Luxembourg with citizens representing the diversity of European geographical realities: Denmark, Greece, Poland and Portugal.

On 24 and 25 February 2007 Europeans from Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Latvia and Slovakia will add their voices to those of their fellow European citizens who gathered for national consultations two weeks ago. These randomly selected citizens will in a two-day process develop five national ?Citizens? Perspectives on the Future of Europe? and hand them over to well-known political representatives such as European Commissioner J?n Figel? or German Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, patron of the German consultations. Their visions will be finalised in a closing document that contains all 27 national results in May 2007.

Dublin, Laulasmaa, Portoroz, Prague, Sofia, 10 February 2007: Jordan Kostadinov, a 74 year old pensioner from the Bulgarian village of Brusartzi, and Declan Glanney from Dublin, 29, are two of the randomly selected Europeans who have made their voices heard this weekend. "I am here, because I am interested in our prospects as newcomers to the EU", says the Bulgarian. "We expect to catch up quickly." The Irishman is delighted to participate: "This event is not just another opinion poll. It happens on a large scale, in each EU country, it has media and Prime Minister attention. It might happen only one time in my life. I never talked to so different people at the same time."

Leading politicians have joined the citizens. Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, Bulgarian EU Commissioner Meglena Kuneva, Slovenian presidential candidate and MEP Alojz Peterle, several other MEPs, and many other elected officials and dignitaries in all countries welcomed the ECC as a unique opportunity to add value to the debate on the future of Europe. TV and radio stations covered the events (see here and scroll down to "Citizens' consultation on EU in Dublin"). 

After two days of deliberation, citizens in each Member State created national "Perspectives on the Future of Europe". Their views will now be brought in to the national debates and synthesized with results from all 27 Member States in Brussels in May. Find the results in the 'National Consultations' section.

The European Citizens Consultations are coming to the first group of Member States: citizens from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Slovenia, Ireland and Bulgaria will discuss the topics that have been selected at the Agenda-Setting event in Brussels in 2006. They have been selected at random representing the diversity of the national population taking into account regional and cultural particularities. In a two-day process, citizens will come up with five national ?Citizens Perspectives on the Future of Europe?. The results will be actively communicated to policy-makers at national levels and can be found in this section after the events.  

The national consultations have been preceded by two citizens' juries in Berlin and Budapest where 80 randomly selected citizens assessed what kind of information would be needed by their fellows to conduct fruitful discussions.

Brussels 06/12/06: The National Consultations are to take place from February to March 2007. They will be implemented by national partners in all Member States of the European Union. Five to ten of these events will take place simultaneously, discussing the same topics that have been selected at the Agenda-Setting Event and sharing views and results at different points in time.

Group 1: Feb 10/11
Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Slovenia, Ireland

Group 2: Feb 24/25
Latvia, Slovakia, Hungary, Belgium, Germany

Group 3: Mar 10/11
Denmark, Greece, Poland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Portugal

Group 4: Mar 24/25
Austria, Sweden, Italy, Lithuania, United Kingdom, Malta, Finland, Romania, Spain, Cyprus 

Brussels, 27/11/2006: This short video shows how the Agenda-Setting Event brought together citizens from all the EU to reach common ground on the agenda for the European Citizens' Consultations project. It highlights the most important aspects of the methodology, and features Commissioner Wallstr?m, the organizers of the debate, and of course citizens. You can also download the video here.

Brussels, 08/10/2006: Energy and environment; family and social welfare; and the EU's global role and immigration - these were the topics chosen by members of the public to be discussed over the coming months in the biggest-ever pan-European debate on the future fo Europe.Out of twenty-four subjects, which the 200 randomly selected citizens from all across Europe themselves had pre-selected, these three were chosen for the ?European Citizens? Agenda?. The event was filmed and visited by 100 observers who were impressed with the depth of the discussion and the commitment shown by the participants. For high-resolution pictures and the press release, please see media information.

Brussels, 03/10/2006: Eight citizens from all 25 Member States are getting ready to travel to Brussels this weekend. They will travel over 300,000 km to join a unique debate in 20 languages, supported by 100 interpreters and facilitators. The event will start Saturday, Oct 7th, at 10am, in Hall 10 of the Heysel Expo Center, and is open to the public. Commission Vice-President Margot Wallstr?m will address the event at 2pm.

Brussels, 08/08/2006: The first event of the European Citizens? Consultations will take place on the 7th and 8th of October 2006 in the Brussels Exhibition Centre. 200 citizens from all 25 Member States, reflecting the diversity of the population, will gather to discuss the overall question of ?what Europe do we want? and select three topics for the subsequent debates in all 25 Member States. Simultaneous interpretation into all official languages of the EU will be provided to ensure every voice is heard.

Brussels, 01/09/2006: The predecessor process for the European Citizens? Consultations is the Meeting of Minds project, which brought together citizens from nine Member States of the EU to debate how to deal with our new scientific knowledge on the brain, a topic usually reserved for experts. Now, the dialogue and its recommendations have been recognised by leading experts as being specific and highly relevant to policy-makers. To read the report of the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF), click here.

Brussels, 30/06/2006:
The European Citizens? Consultations proposal has been approved for financial support by the European Commission (link). Plan D for Democracy, Dialogue and Debate aims at integrating the European citizens more into the design of a common Europe. In line with Plan D, the Commission this year announced a call for pro-posals quoting financial assistance for pan-European initiatives that promote public participation in the debates on Europe and generate input for decision-makers. We would like to thank all partners for contributing to the successful proposal.

Brussels, 05/07/2006: The European Citizens? Consultations do not only create the first-ever European dialogue but also the first-ever pan-European partner network of independent foundations and non-profit organisations capable of implementing large-scale policy dialogues. The German Robert Bosch Foundation decided to co-sponsor the European Citizens? Consultations with a particular emphasis on events in Germany during that country?s Presidency of the European Union in the first half of 2007. Other funding partners include the Charles L?opold Mayer Foundation (France), the Compagnia di San Paolo (Italy), the European Cultural Foundation (Netherlands), and the Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (Sweden).