International conference
At an international conference entitled civic participation in the EU at a time of mistrust we presented the possibilities of democratic participation and successful methods, as well as ways to promote the involvement of citizens in decision-making processes at the EU level. The topic of the conference attracted quite a few listeners, who were greeted in the introduction by the president of the LAZ association Gabrijela Babič and the mayor of the Municipality of Ljubljana, Zoran Janković, who highlighted the importance of projects such as DOCPIE in the activation of people, especially in today’s times, when Europe is facing a major refugee crisis and our values and solidarity are being tested.
Nataša Šip from Representations of the European Commission in Slovenia in her contribution presented the work of European institutions and decision-making procedures. She highlighted the new work strategy of the European Commission, which is based on the EU commissioners doing more work on the ground. In this way, they want to establish better connections with citizens – the EU has a population of 500 million, so it is difficult to consider all opinions, which is solved by a structured debate at the EU level.
Simon Delakorda from Inepa emphasized that EU residents have various mechanisms of democratic influence at their disposal. Experience with the mechanism of the European citizens’ initiative shows that the success of democratic procedures depends on the trust of citizens. This is established through adequate information, transparency, inclusion and effectiveness of procedures.
Tina Michieli she highlighted the connection of all levels, as the EU is not something external and something that only happens in Brussels. She also emphasized that European politics is implemented at the national level, and citizens can enter into a dialogue with decision-makers at all levels, that cooperation with national ministries is important for the creation of European policies, and that if I invest our energy and convey a vision of the regulation in some area, we expect the response.
At the conference, the partners of the DOCPIE project also presented their methods for increasing the democratic participation of citizens, who prepared examples of good practices from their countries.
At the end, Gregor Stamejčič and Lucija Govedič from the Maribor City Assembly initiative presented the conference participants with methods of moderating and conducting discussions about trust, inclusion and solidarity in the EU and among European citizens. The participants also tested this in practice.
Workshop
The afternoon workshop ‘Training for the development of projects and applications for the tenders of the Europe for Citizens program’ was also successfully implemented and well attended, where the participants learned about the possibilities of financing projects with EU funds. Some successful projects and methods to promote democratic participation and innovative methods for project development and approaches to build international partnerships were presented.
Docpie stand at the Lupa festival
At the DOCPIE stand at the LUPA festival on Prešeren Square in Ljubljana, representatives of the LAZ association collected opinions about civil participation at the EU level and promoted the rights of citizens in the EU. During the festival, there was also a debate on stage for and against, in which high school students participated.
International Evening
The day-long event ended with a meeting of project partners at an intercultural evening, which was dedicated to the diversity, tradition and richness of the cultural and linguistic environment of Europe. The project partners got to know Slovenian culture through dance and cuisine, and they also got to know Slovenian culture with cuisine, dancing, singing, etc. presented their lands.
