Project

European Citizens’ Consultations


Project period:
10.01.2006 - 06.01.2007
Project costs:
Project costs in Latvia: EUR 50 000
Financier:
European Commission, King Baudouin Foundation, Compagnia di San Paolo, Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, Robert Bosch Foundation


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The results of these consultations in the form of recommendations were handed over to the institutions of the EU – European Commission, European Council and the European Parliament. National politicians of all EU member states also got acquainted with citizens’ visions for the future of Europe.

The project was lead by the King Baudouin Foundation (Belgium), in cooperation with the European Citizen Action Service, European Policy Centre and the Network of European Foundations. National partners (non-governmental organizations, universities, associations) in each member state were responsible for the implementation of the project in their country. PROVIDUS was the national partner for Latvia.
27 national debates took place within this project. In each consultation at least 30 people participated, with different age and social groups and regions being represented. In total, approximately 1800 citizens took part in the debates.

The topics of the consultations were not decided by experts but by citizens who prior to the national discussions met in Brussels (in October 2006), with 8 people from each member state participating). 

These topics were:
• Environment and energy,
• Social welfare and family,
• Global role, outside borders and immigration.

The next step of the project was national debates. In Latvia, the national consultation took place on 24-25 February, simultaneously with debates in Germany, Belgium, Slovakia and Hungary. The participants defined their visions for the future of Europe, analysing the three topics and thinking of a possible EU role in achieving the goals.

43 participants took part in the national consultation in Latvia.
border=0 Report on the Latvian perspectives on the future of Europe (1.07 MB).

Then the results of the 27 national consultations were consolidated in one document. It was produced in the Synthesis Event (9-10 May, Brussels) where 27 participants of the national debates (one per each member state) took part.

The European Citizens’ Perspectives on the Future of Europe are available here:

border=0 European Citizens’ Consultations. Final Results (1.87 MB)

The results of the consultations were discussed in all EU member states in national follow-up events.

The following events took place in Latvia: 

– 4 June 2007: seminar for staff of EU Information Agency, European Parliament Information Bureau, Commission Representation in Latvia, European Movement and Civic Alliance. Briefing on project conclusions, discussion about how results could be used to communicate Europe.

– 28 May 2007: discussion on the policy results and its implications with Normunds Popens (Foreign Ministry Under-Secretary of State), Aldis Kušķis (Latvian MEP), Valdis Zagorskis (Political Analyst of the European Commission Representation in Latvia), and Dace Akule (ECC project manager in Latvia). The discussion is published (in Latvian) on the public policy website politika.lv 

In addition to the national follow-up events, European Policy Centre organized a discussion about the citizens’ recommendations and their possible impact on the policy-making. More information

European Citizen Action Service in October organised a conference on the citizen participation in European policy-making.

More information about the project (in English) is available on the European Citizens’ Consultations website

More information about the project (in Latvian) is available here.


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