About the project

The European Citizens’ Consultations 2009 (ECC 2009) bring together citizens from all 27 EU Member States to discuss - with each other and then with policy-makers - some of the key challenges facing the EU.

ECC 2009 focuses on the issues which are currently of greatest concern to EU citizens in the run-up to the 2009 European elections. In doing so, ECC 2009 is seeking to answer the question:

“What can the EU do to shape our economic and social future in a globalised world?”

An online debate
Between 3 December 2008 and March 2009, everyone is invited to take part in an online debate and make proposals for our economic and social future. These proposals will then feed directly into the European Citizens’ Consultation as your country's material for discussion.

27 identical conferences
The 27 European Citizens’ Consultations will be attended by a total of 1,500 randomly selected citizens reflecting their country’s demographic composition. These identical conferences, held simultaneously in nine countries at a time over three weekends in March 2009, are the heart of the ECC process. They enable citizens to discuss issues of common concern with each other, to develop recommendations, and to discuss these with key national and European policy-makers.

Between April and May 2009, the recommendations drawn up at the 27 national events will be voted on by all 1,500 participants. Members of the public will then be invited to debate the finalised list of recommendations online.

A European Citizens’ Summit
A European Citizens’ Summit, attended by 150 participants from the 27 Consultations, will be held in Brussels on 10 - 11 May 2009. Here, citizens will finalise a set of European recommendations and debate these with European policy-makers.

Follow-up debates
The citizens’ recommendations will be discussed with newly elected Members of the European Parliament and more opinion-leaders at regional conferences in autumn 2009.

Funding
ECC 2009 is co-funded by the European Commission’s “Debate Europe” programme and is part of an ongoing process to further develop citizen participation and consultation mechanisms. It builds on the success of ECC 2007, which established a new model for citizen participation. Read more about ECC 2007 in the archive section of the site.

Here you can see what others say about the project!