Groundbreaking EU Consultations Continue This Winter
On the weekend of the 7 and 8 of October 2006, 200 citizens from all 25 Member States met in Brussels to set the agenda for the national consultations to take place in all EU Member States in the coming year. Three topics for national level consultations emerged: Environment and energy; Social welfare and family; Europe’s global role, its external borders and immigration.
In November and December 2006, two “test groups” of 40 citizens will meet in so-called citizens’ juries to discuss and assess which kind of information participants of the national consultations require to lead fruitful discussions. Then, national consultations will take place from February to March 2007 in all EU Member States. Citizens will discuss the overarching question “What is needed to achieve the Europe we want?” based on the three topics selected at the agenda-setting event in October.
At least four consultations will take place at the same time, expected to create a “European atmosphere” and enable an exchange of results and a true European dialogue across locations. A final consultation will take place in May 2007. All 25 national results will be synthesised and integrated to achieve as a result the “European Citizens’ Perspectives”. The hand-over of this document to European decision-makers will kick off the European follow-up process, informing the public and all participants about the role of their results in the formal political discussions on the future development of the European Union. For more information, please visit: www.european-citizens-consultations.eu. For queries, please contact: Felix Oldenburg, IFOK GmbH atfelix.oldenburg@ifok.de
Fantastic work. There are some interestind developments coming from Europe in terms of Deliberation; I am designing an online system that may help in terms of small group deliberation; i'll keep you informed