Europuls and its partner, Smart Everything Everywhere (SEE), have the pleasure to invite to a new public consultation entitled “ Civic innovation and democracy: a strong alliance in the digital age?” 

The event is part of the series of consultations within the “RO2019 Support platform” that aim to collect the input of participants to formulate potential political priorities for the upcoming Romanian presidency of the EU Council in 2019.

In this context, Europuls and its partner SEE, strongly believe that Romania should consider the digital component as one of its main priorities during the Presidency.

Nowadays, the European society is facing increasing rates of disillusionment towards political institutions, a staggering lack of trust in the elected representatives, a rise of political extremism and low turnout in elections, especially among the younger generations.

Luckily, the digital age offers possibilities that could benefit our democracy. The open government and e-participation can make our democratic systems more representative and more transparent by providing new opportunities for people to participate and thereby improve the quality of decision-making by local, regional or national public authorities. 

This panel discussion will address the way digital tools can be used by democratic institutions and how citizens themselves can be involved in the practice of democracy –either by raising specific concerns, by developing and scrutinising legislative proposals or by jointly making decisions.

What makes a digital democracy process successful? Is the traditional way of engaging citizens obsolete? What is the impact of such digital tools on the quality of decision-making and on the engagement levels of citizens?

The event will bring an insight into concrete European initiatives to understand their impact and possibilities of replication and scaling up at EU level.

Speakers:

• Dan Nechita -Smart Everything Everywhere, Romania
• Victor Negrescu, Member of the European Parliament TBC
• Pedro Obrando, DG CONNECT  
• David Osimo, The Lisbon Council, Spain
• Timothée Bres, Civic Innovation Network, Belgium

Please confirm your participation by 26th of June the latest, (by providing your ID number, date of birth and nationality) to Laura Visan ([email protected] ) and Alina Popescu ([email protected])