In her political guidelines for the new Commission, President Ursula von der Leyen expressed her will for European citizens to play a leading and active part in building the future of our Union. The importance of more citizen engagement has been recognised and strengthened in the Lisbon Treaty with the European citizens’ initiative and in a number of documents and political declarations, such as the Commission contribution to the Sibiu Declaration for a “new strategic agenda for the EU 2019-2024”.
With this in mind, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy is organising a conference on engaging citizens and civil society in Cohesion Policy. The event will take place under the political leadership and with the participation of Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms Elisa Ferreira and will focus on how to ensure closer cooperation with citizens and civil society in the governance and implementation of Cohesion Policy and management of dedicated EU funds. Through a more active citizens’ engagement, institutions will become even more transparent and accountable, while investments will bring more and bigger results on the ground.
New: a background document provides additional details of the wider political context and objectives of the conference.
Some key questions to address through the conference are:
Time
Topic
Speaker(s)
08.30 – 09.30
Registrations, coffee and networking
Moderator for the day: Katrina Sichel
09.50 – 11.00
"the What" will provide context and visions on situation today and trends.
Keynote speeches
Key Note Speech - Sanjay Pradhan
Key Note Speech - Yves Dejaeghere
Key Note Speech - Joanna Howard
Key Note Speech - Roman Szelemej
11.00 – 11.30
Coffee and networking break.
11.30 – 12.30
"the Why" will look into reasons for involving citizens in Cohesion Policy.
Conversation on stage
13.00 - 14.00
Lunch
14.00 – 15.00
“the Experiences” show interesting examples and go more into details on four specific topics.
Parallel participatory debates.
Open data and digital technology to engage citizens
Co-creation, ownership and meaningful participation
Presentation - Melanie Steinbacher
Presentation - Oliver Escobar
Monitoring, transparency and accountability – building trust through cooperation
Capacity building for authorities and CSOs
Presentation - Leda Stott
Presentation - Zakia Elvang
15.00 – 15.30
Coffee and networking break
15.30 – 15.50
Report back from the breakout sessions.
15.50 – 16.05
Introduction to the high level debate
Testimonies from politicians in two EU Member States.
16.05 – 17.15
"the How"will discuss how citizens and civil society could and should be involved in EU Cohesion Policy for the future.
17.15 – 17.30
Concluding remarks
Elisa Ferreira, Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms
For questions, please contact DG REGIO on REGIO-CITIZENS-CONFERENCE-2020@ec.europa.eu
