Not applicable: Rendez-Vous sur l'Oder: Dr Daniela Heimpel on citizen participation in Europe

« Rapprocher l’Europe de ses citoyen.ne.s ? Retour sur la Conférence sur l’avenir de l’Europe 2021-2022 »

(„Bringing Europe closer to its citizens? A look back at the Conference on the Future of Europe 2021-2022“).

Summary: In many contexts, public institutions are increasingly utilising different forms of citizen participation (OECD, 2020). At the European level, the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE), which was jointly organised by the Parliament, the Commission and the Council from 2021 to 2022, can be mentioned in particular. As a transnational experience in deliberative and participatory democracy, it included four citizens' forums in which 800 randomly selected citizens from all member states jointly developed policy recommendations for the EU. The aim of this initiative was to involve citizens in the political decision-making process and at the same time to strengthen trust and support for the European project. What influence does the CoFoE have on relations with Europe as perceived by those directly involved? To what extent and how has participation in this experience shaped the relationship of these citizens to the European project and the EU institutions?

Daniela Heimpel is a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre Marc Bloch. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Montreal and the University of Nantes (2021) and is interested in the EU, transnational democracy, European citizenship, civic participation, education for European citizenship and pluralism. Her current research project focuses on experiences of deliberative and participatory democracy at EU level, including the Conference on the Future of Europe and the Commission's „new“ European Citizens' Forums (2022-2024).

Registrations for the event can be sent to pensees-francaises@europa-uni.de.