The European Citizens? Consultations are the first-ever pan-European debate involving citizens from all 27 Member States to debate the future of the European Union across the boundaries of geography and language. Citizens exchange opinions, develop together their ideas on the future direction of Europe, and communicate their perspectives to policy-makers. Simultaneous and interlinked events across Europe allow every citizen to make his or her voice heard. The consultations and their follow-up aim at inspiring European as well as national institutions and decision-makers as they prepare to take decisions on the next phase of Europe?s development.

The European Citizens? Consultations and their follow-up go beyond most European communication initiatives. The citizens of Europe are at the centre of the project: Reflecting and representing the diversity of the entire EU population, they engage into an authentic and exciting European dialogue. They are chosen at random whilst making sure that different age groups, genders, and socio-economic backgrounds are represented. Further criteria are added as appropriate in each country. During the deliberations, the participants can draw back on experts if needed, but it is them who set the agenda of the debates, identify common ground, and formulate recommendations to policy-makers. Without requiring any special knowledge or language capabilities, they exchange expectations, hopes, and concerns across boundaries and cultures. Innovative dialogue design, modern technology, and simultaneous interpretation into all official languages of the EU overcome the typical barriers to effective participation ? ensuring that each citizen can make his or her voice heard.

In this section, you can find out more about past European Citizens Consultations, watch a video of the ECC 2007 and browse through photos of the different events. To see what happened in your own country, click here.