Citizen Engagement and Deliberative Democracy Festival | 6-12 December

The main objectives:

• Capacity building on Citizen Engagement and Deliberative Democracy Practices.
• Showcase and learn about ongoing important files of citizen engagement run by the Commission by relevant services, notably the Conference on the Future of Europe.
• Illustrate why greater engagement of the public in policy-making is even more needed now than it was before the outbreak of Covid-19. Further strengthen and widen across the Commission the understanding of the role of citizen engagement in all phases of the policy cycle, especially focusing on co-creation and deliberative practices.
• Showcase citizen engagement that services are conducting or supporting, e.g. the Horizon Europe Missions and in the Member States.
• Address some cross-cutting challenges with practitioners in the field, e.g. evaluation.

Highlights of the agenda

• An opening address by Commissioner Mariya Gabriel
• Thought-provoking live and asynchronous discussions with key practitioners on citizen engagement and   deliberative democracy policy in the EU
• Input from Commission Vice-Presidents and politicians working directly on the European Democracy Action Plan and the Conference on the Future of Europe
• A closing address by JRC Director-General Stephen Quest
• A video exhibition of citizen engagement projects, live artwork and citizens’ insights into citizen engagement projects and the transformation of public spaces during COVID-19.

Call for submissions: Where is the public?

Stories on public spaces from the year of lockdowns. We welcome visual and written accounts of experiences and reflections on the ways in which public spaces have been changing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Selected submissions will be shown during the festival and at its satellite events. Fill out your submission form HERE.