A look at democratic experiments across Europe

Read this Special Report in Romanian or in Dutch.

From co-designing urban spaces to crowdsourcing and permanent citizen assemblies, European cities, regions and institutions are experimenting with different forms of participation to give citizens a say on issues that affect them in decision-making processes.

This EURACTIV special report looks at some of the current participatory and deliberative experiments across Europe, how they work and how effective they are.

• Deliberative democracy in eastern Belgium: A model to scale up?

  News | Participatory democracy 27-03-2023

  Est. 4min
  

  Since 2019, the German-speaking community in Belgium has carried out a deliberative experiment involving citizens in decision-making processes, a model that, according to the former head of the region’s parliament, could be adapted to other government levels.

• EU citizens’ panels likely to stay, but need to be adapted, experts say

  News | Participatory democracy 28-03-2023

  Est. 5min
  

  EU citizens' panels introduced after the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) mean deliberative democracy experiments will continue at the EU level, but they need to better adapt to citizens’ expectations and become more inclusive, experts say.

• Crowdsourcing citizens’ ideas can benefit EU policy cycle, experts say

  News | Participatory democracy 29-03-2023

  Est. 3min
  

  Ten European cities took part in a pioneering experiment to gather citizens’ ideas on how to address air pollution and present possible solutions to policy-makers, through a crowdsourcing process that experts believe could become part of the EU participatory toolbox.

• Co-managing city assets to improve the quality of democracy

  News | Participatory democracy 31-03-2023

  Est. 4min
  

  European cities and their residents are increasingly using collaborative tools which allow inhabitants to participate in the design and management of city assets, a practice which, according to experts, can create more democratic societies and markets.

• Youth want louder voice in EU legislative process

  News | Participatory democracy 12-04-2023

  Est. 4min
  

  Read this article in Romanian. Youth activists are pushing for better recognition of youth's voices and needs in European policy-making while also making sure young people feel safe to participate, a key concern as next year's European elections …

Politics

Deliberative democracy in eastern Belgium: A model to scale up?

27/03/2023

3 min. read

Politics

EU citizens’ panels likely to stay, but need to be adapted, experts say

28/03/2023

4 min. read

Politics

Crowdsourcing citizens’ ideas can benefit EU policy cycle, experts say

29/03/2023

3 min. read

Politics

Co-managing city assets to improve the quality of democracy

31/03/2023

4 min. read

Politics

Youth want louder voice in EU legislative process

12/04/2023

3 min. read