Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFE) and beyond
Since the initial announcement of establishing a Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFE) by the President of the European Commission, the CoR with a spirit of democratic responsibility with a view to bring the debate on the future of Europe in all regions and cities. The Conference ran from April 2021 to May 2022 and was the first of its kind: a major pan-European democratic exercise, with citizen-led debates enabling people from across Europe to share their ideas and help shape our common future.
With the contribution of its High-Level Group on European Democracy, the CoR took a vibrant role in this new experiment. The 30 delegates to the Conference, representing the CoR and local and regional authorities, were very active in bringing to the table the issues that matter in European regions. They also strongly advocated for an enhanced role of our Assembly, and promoted the principle of subsidiarity. Europe's regions and cities were instrumental in making the Conference a success, as over two years more than 140 local, regional and cross-border citizens' dialogues took place, engaging up to 10 000 citizens.
One of the main legacy of the Conference is that deliberative democracy became now part of EU policymaking: since 2023 several Citizens' Panels have already been organised with more being announced.
The CoR has continued to carry on the work to mobilize and engage citizens in the democratic process. Be it through supporting local dialogues with citizens, its consultative work, or the support of the European elections, the CoR is committed to enhancing the democratic foundation of the European Union.
From local to European
The CoR, as the assembly of locally elected politicians, and the Bertelsmann Foundation, with its expertise in citizen participation, have jointly initiated the From local to European project in April 2021. Running until Spring 2022, the project supported locally initiated dialogues that contributed with their recommendations to the debate of the CoFE. At the same time the project provided hands-on on methods and quality principles to organise a citizens' dialogue with a political impact. The project confirmed that citizens' dialogues lead to better results if they are conducted inclusively, deliberatively and effectively. 67 regions and cities were involved in organising 38 citizens' dialogues, reaching out around 2000 citizens in this hands-on exercise. As a key part of participatory democracy is also the impact and follow-up of exercises like citizens' dialogues, the project also engaged around 400 locally or regionally elected representatives and members of their administration, providing a true link between the citizens and policymaking.
Capacity building in cities and regions
Building on the success of the 2021 project From local to European and leading up to the 2024 European elections, the CoR renewed its partnership with the Bertelsmann Foundation on a follow-up project. Launched in March 2023, the project supported regional and local authorities to implement civic participation projects. It is becoming increasingly important for politicians to include citizens' voices in the policymaking process, notably on EU-relevant topics like energy, climate or health. The project therefore focused on capacity building to enable local and regional politicians, in particular Young Elected Politicians (YEP) and interested parties to engage with citizens through participatory democracy in their constituencies. On top of two high-level events with members of the CoR, the European Parliament and academia on the challenges for democracy, held on 9 March and 15 December 2023, several targeted training sessions have been organised for local and regional politicians. Running from 16 June until 15 September 2023, the three compact training sessions provide a hands-on tutorial on how to organise citizens' panels. The trainings involved more than 80 locally and regionally elected politicians and members of their administration.
In November 2023 the programme Becoming a Participation Professional, targeted specifically at Young Elected Politicians, was launched. The programme brought together 45 dedicated YEPs in an intense programme that was composed of 4 online webinars and a 3-day in-person Winter School on 14-16 February 2024. The dedicated group of YEPs got a chance to develop and use their newly acquired skills in citizen participation and deliberative democracy methods. Apart from an in-depth training programme, carried out by the Bertelsmann Foundation, the group of YEPs got to learn more on citizen engagement from key actors such as the European Parliament.