When 81 year old Mary from Dublin and 43 year old Silvi from Tallinn raise their voices in the European Parliament on May 9th, 2007, they take a moment to find the button activating their microphone. With an expectant plenary full of policy-makers, journalists and stakeholders in front of them, they confidently read out visions for the future of the European Union that had been developed by them and 1800 other citizens from all over Europe over several months.
In October 2006, two hundred randomly selected citizens from all EU-Member States were invited to present their opinions on the influence Europe has had on their lives, and what direction they would like to see Europe take in the future. Over two days, they discussed their experiences within and between the groups. The first stage was to identify shared topics by sharing perspectives and thinking about the future role of Europe. Then, by discussing these topics with each other, three of them were selected as being the most important:
- Energy & Environment: The environmental and economic impact of Europe’s energy use
- Family & Social Welfare: The social and economic conditions for Europe’s families
- EU’s Global Role & Immigration: The EU’s role in the world and the management of immigration
During February and March 2007, the three priorities of citizens identified in Brussels were debated at national consultations –following the same process, and using live exchanges of results and videos between five to ten simultaneous events. After 27 consultations in six weeks, a map of European public opinion emerged, new narratives for Europe from all corners of the EU.
What Mary and Silvi present two months later in Brussels is a synthesis of these national visions, created by representatives of all national consultations.
The European Citizens Consultations (ECC) were implemented by the largest ever operating network of independent foundations and civil society organisations in Europe under the lead of the King Baudouin Foundation with operating partners in 27 countries. ECC was co-funding from 21 foundations and received the largest project grant of Margot Wallström’s Plan D.
ECC goes beyond the usual suspects by involving 1,800 randomly selected citizens representing the diversity of the population. The consultations create an inclusive and barrier-free debate with broad resonance in the media and on all political levels from the local to the European. Moreover, ECC fills a gap in information available to policy makers, as it is different from opinion polls or expert recommendations. Rather than recording a static snapshot of individual opinions, the consultations bring participants to explore opinions, weigh trade-offs, shift their opinions and ultimately find common ground.
The ECC process proves that large scale deliberation is not in competition to representative EU institutions but provides a unique input for policy makers |
