• Posted 19-Oct-2020

Local and regional leaders propose a tool for citizens' voice to be heard in the EU decision-making process

The 140th plenary session of the EU' assembly of local regional representatives was marked by the first local and regional Barometer which includes an opinion poll conducted to more 26 000 citizens across the European Union. The results of this poll give a strong legitimacy to local and regional leaders to play a key role in the EU decision-making process and in particular in the upcoming Conference on the Future of Europe.

In his opinion "Local and regional authorities in the permanent dialogue with citizens" , CoR rapporteur Declan Mc Donnell (IE/EA), proposes to develop a tool called CitizEN - Citizen Engagement in the EU Network to involve citizens in policy-making.

Starting from the assumption that bottom-up communication channels and participation instruments complement and strengthen representative democracy, as well as promote active subsidiarity by giving citizens a greater say on a permanent basis beyond and between elections, the opinion proposes the setting-up of a pan-EU network based on voluntary participation called CitizEN - Citizen ENgagement in the EU Network , with three objectives:

• to strengthen interaction between European institutions and citizens, through direct methods for engagement at local and regional level;
• to provide examples of participation methods that can be used both formally and informally;
• to act as a repository for information and sharing of best practice of national, regional and local participation initiatives from across the European Union.

The CitizEN Network could be launched during the Conference on the Future of Europe, with a view to becoming a stable and permanent infrastructure able to carry on with the follow-up on the work of the Conference and ensuring that citizens are kept well informed and can be involved in the monitoring, evaluation and assessment phases.

Source: European Committee of the Regions News (https://bit.ly/31CjDVJ)