The European Citizens' Consultations 2009 will take place in 5 main phases:

The first phase is an Online Debate: Idea Generation from December 2008 to March 2009, marked by the launch of 27 national websites via which members of the public can share their proposals on how the EU can shape our economic future in a globalised world. The outcomes of these debates will provide input into the second phase, the National Citizens? Consultations which are at the heart of the ECC process. These 27 identical National Citizens? Consultations will involve 1,500 randomly selected citizens reflecting the demographic composition of their countries and will be held simultaneously on 3 weekends in March 2009. During the Online Debate on Recommendations, the recommendations drawn up at the 27 National Consultations will be debated by the general public via the project?s European website. The citizens who have participated in the National Consultations will also vote on the recommendations. The final list will be used as a basis for the fourth phase, the European Citizens' Summit. This event will bring 150 representatives from all National Consultations to Brussels and will help ensure that truly European recommendations are handed over to policy makers and decision makers. The outcomes of the ECC process will be further disseminated and debated amongst stakeholders in the project?s final phase, via a series of Regional Outreach Events.

Obtain information about how the European Citizens' Consultations work, by watching the ECC 2007 video with impressions from all the events.