Conference on the Future of Europe

“The future is yours” – This is the slogan of the Conference on the Future of Europe. What should the European Union of tomorrow look like? What must change in concrete terms to achieve this?

This unique experiment in democracy, historically unprecedented at European level, provides a platform for such discussions. It is based on online and offline events and takes place at European, national, regional level and on a multilingual interactive digital platform.

One central element are four European citizens’ panels, in which up to 200 randomly selected citizens from all EU member states make proposals for the future development of the European Union.

Project

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The video is a summary of the first meeting of the first European Citizens’ Council on: A stronger economy, social justice, employment/education, culture, youth and sport/digital transformation.

The project in detail

  • Partner :Missions Publiques, Danish Board of Technology, Deliberativa ; Teamwork, VO Europe
  • Duration :since March 2021
  • Keyfacts :800 citizens from 27 EU Member States
  • 8 offline and 4 online sessions
  • Multilingual discussions in 24 languages

ifok organises the European Citizens’ Panels as part of the Conference on the Future of Europe

ifok and its partners are responsible for the conception and implementation of the European citizens’ panels: from the design of the offline and online sessions to the involvement of experts and the moderation of the 24-language multilingual sessions. ifok is doing pioneering work: by means of automatic translation, specially programmed multilingual worksheets and processes that consider the multilingualism of the participants, ifok and its partners are implementing a new form of transnational citizen participation.

More on the Conference on the Future of Europe

ifok services

Participation

Moderation

Event management

Project management

Our goals

Design a successful multilingual deliberation process, both on-site and in digital sessions.

Develop concrete recommendations for action that are based on a balanced opinion-forming process, a solid factual basis and that are politically connectable.

Provide a model for future deliberation processes at EU and transnational level.

Impressions

The main moderation team for the first session of the first citizens´ panel were Jacob Birkenhäger (ifok) and Kathrine Collin Hagan (DBT). The first session took place in the building of the European Parliament building in Strasbourg.
A large part of the citizens’ work takes place in multilingual working groups of 12-14 citizens.
Leading EU experts impart knowledge and support a fact-based opinion-forming process.
Guy Verhofstadt, Member of the European Parliament and co-chair of the Conference on the Future of Europe, highlights the role of the citizens in the future development of the European Union.

Your contact persons

Jacob Birkenhäger

Business Unit Manager | Deliberation, Open Government, Democracy

Phone+49 30 536077-45
Emailjacob.birkenhaeger@ifok.de

Dr. Constantin Schäfer

Consultant | Deliberation, Open Government, Democracy

Phone+49 6251 8263-192
Emailconstantin.schaefer@ifok.de

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