Based on the results of the year-long international research and consultations process, including over 850 direct participants and reaching over 160.000 indirect addressees from all over Europe, the recommendations for more active democratic participation of the European Union’s citizens are to:
1) Enable the steps that would strengthen the link between social intelligence and civic participation.
2) Focus on creating centers for training civic leaders and thus addressing the need of people to be more informed about civic engagement.
3) Making the process of the decision on public matters taking more transparent, by disclosing the positions and funding sources of lobbyists.
4) Promoting independent thinking and limiting media propaganda by promoting the idea of having live coverage (TV, Web) of parliamentary discussions.
5) Strengthen and support independent media.
6) Strengthen the importance of Non-governmental Organizations and thus making them an internal part of the governing process.
By making progress in the above mentioned areas we will be able to tackle the roots of limited participation in the democratic processes and achieve changes in many other areas enhancing active citizenship, such as:
- Developing legislation to protect active citizenship from political pressures;
- Making participation appealing by using marketing tools and rewards;
- Creating more mechanisms for effective accountability;
- Creating more bottom-up channels for active participation;
- Integrating simulation of active participation and experiential civic education throughout schooling;
- Ensuring equal representation of all age groups in politics; better accessibility of information;
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Showing the benefits of being active; funding political campaigns only through controlled
crowd-funding; - Introducing loose forms of direct democracy with the use of technology;
- Creating on-line platforms that enhance interactions and questions between citizens and politicians;
- Protecting and promoting freedom of speech.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. The International Open On-line Research Report;
2. The National Citizen’s Forums reports for 4 countries: Poland, Romania, Italy and Cyprus;
3. The International Citizens Forum Report.
The Recommendations were sent to the following European Union level bodies:
- The European Ombudsman, Mrs. Emily O'Reilly
- The Chair of The European Parliament the Committee on petitions, Mrs. Cecilia WikstrÓ§m
- The Chair of The European Parliament the Committee on Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, Mr. Claude Moraes
- The President of The European Parliament, Mr. Martin Schulz
- The President of the European Council, Mr. Donald Tusk
- The Director of The European Agency for Fundamental Rights, Mr. Michael O'Flaherty
The Recommendations will be also sent to national level bodies/institutions/organisations in four countries of the project partnership as well as disseminated among w wide public.
