Our goals
Democracy and the future of the EU remains one ot the top priorities of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR). A new chapter for EU democracy therefore stays at the forefront of major initiatives of the CoR along with communication campaigns on Cohesion and Green Deal.
The main goals of the new chapter for EU democracy campaign in 2023 is to assist local and regional elected representatives and local authorities in supporting democracy and European values, anticipating means of linking results of local dialogues to EU policy shaping and raising awareness in view of the upcoming European elections in 2024.
With these goals the campaign focuses on:
- Providing support to Members of the CoR who wish to create events in their local areas to engage citizens in a dialogue about Europe. This aspect stayed pertinent as selected policy areas gained importance and became the topics of European Citizen Panels as a follow to the Conference on the Future of Europe
- Capacity building by providing tranining and interactive sessions on innovative participatory methods
- Extending the network of practitioners and linking CoR networks of EU Councillors and YEPs
- Ensuring that citizen dialogue outputs fed into the right channels for policy- and decision-making.
- Working with external organisations to support the development of new and innovative methods of citizen engagement and participation, and encouraging the take-up of these new tools. More information on our projects with the Bertelsmann Stiftung is available below.
Support to Members
As a follow up to the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE), the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is encouraging its members to maintain the momentum and keep being engaged with citizens via local dialogues. Members who want to create such events can choose between the following two funding possibilities:
(i) A flatrate 'CoFoE Talk' outreach allowance of EUR 700 which the Member can use to organise and pay for the costs of an event in whatever format they chose. Please note that the event must not take place less than one month before an election and the Member must submit an event report within one month of its taking place - cf Regulation 28/2021.
(ii) Alternatively, a member can apply for support for an online local event. Applications must be submitted at least three months in advance and approved by CFAA - cf Decision 145/2020 amending Decision 028/2016.
In both options, the Directorate for Communication can provide communication support for web, press and social media and Members can claim their standard meetings allowance.
Members are invited to apply for one of these options through the event application form (EN/FR).
Collaborations
Bertelsmann Stiftung: The CoR successfully concluded its project
"From local to European" with the Bertelsmann Stiftung supporting over 40 local dialogues across Europe in 2021-2022. The
new joint project for 2023-2024 was launched with a
kick-off event on 9 March and will be gradually rolled out to interested local and regional politicians, authorities interested in taking up citizen participation practices in decision-making.
Network of Regional and Local EU Councillors
There are more than one million elected politicians in the regions and cities of the European Union. They are dealing with European laws, funding programmes and debates on a daily basis. The Network builds on the successful experience with national of local politicians dealing with EU affairs existing, for example, in Austria, France and Germany.
Visit the Network webpage for more information and to get involved.