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The Commission and OECD join forces to boost citizen engagement for a sustainable and inclusive recovery

Today the European Commission announced its support to five national and regional programmes to pilot innovative ways of engaging citizens in decisions about cohesion policy investments. The managing authorities from Spain, Poland, Italy and two Interreg programmes (Belgium-the Netherlands and Bulgaria-Romania) will benefit from targeted support from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The objective of the pilots will be to promote active citizen and civil society participation in designing, implementing and evaluating cohesion policy projects, as well as boosting the culture of transparency and accountability of the public institutions involved.

date:  09/07/2020

Promoting the objectives of the European Green Deal, sustainability and inclusiveness of the economy are the common elements to the selected programmes. The five programmes were selected on the basis of their ambitious and valuable plans of improving citizen participation in their respective areas::

  • in Spain, the Regional Government of Cantabria will focus on the participation of citizens in the transition to a green and low-carbon economy;
  • in Poland, the authority responsible for the Infrastructure and Environment 2014-2020 Operational Programme will foster public participation in the implementation of large scale transport infrastructure projects, by creating a platform for social participation;
  • the body responsible for the Bulgaria-Romania cross-border programme will promote participation in the investment decisions on projects for environmental protection;
  • the Netherlands – Flanders Interreg Programme will extend the use of their online tool for participation, especially in micro projects benefiting the local communities; and
  • the Emilia-Romagna regional programme in Italy will elaborate a roadmap on involving citizens in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in the cohesion policy investments. 

A dedicated team from the Open and Innovative Government Division at the OECD will provide hands-on support to the selected authorities on how to engage closer with civil society, including in the analysis of the state of play, structured discussions with relevant stakeholders, and the preparation of an action plan.