- 17 February 2023
How to increase awareness of the benefits of cohesion policy across 5 Member States, reaching a maximum number of people through various media? This was the challenge met by “Meet the citizen: my way through the Europe labyrinth”, managed by European House in Budapest, which ran from March 2019 to January 2020 in 5 Member States: Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. The Europe Labyrinth, a mobile installation of 100m², ran from July-October 2019 in a selection of well-frequented public places in Kecskemet (HU), Kosice (SK), Osijek (HR), Olomouc (CZ) and in Timisoara (RO) inviting ordinary citizens, passer-byers to stop and ultimately enter the labyrinth. Info panels on local results of cohesion policy and a “passport” gave visitors access to easy-to-read and understand relevant information.
In the same locations, 5 citizens’ agoras were organised from October-December. An average of 50 participants - most of them young people - attended each event held under the title “A day without the EU”. They filled in a thought-provoking questionnaire and engaged in a discussion in 3 working groups. They were free to decide which topics they preferred to debate out of the 7 proposed topics. The most popular ones were climate change, studying and travelling in Europe and employment. A great number of proposals emerged from the discussions. The attractions were also heavily publicised through Facebook, publications and partnerships with local schools and civil society organisations.
The communication actions implemented as part of the “Meet the citizen: my way through the Europe labyrinth” project were very popular, as the figures show:
- over 4 000 visits to the labyrinth across the 5 Member States visited.
- 474 questionnaires completed by labyrinth and agora participants
- 1260 comments and 43 proposals received from participants
- 914 865 impressions on Facebook, 528 followers on Instagram
- 5743 views of Facebook ad campaign
- 7 project publications in 5 languages
- 623 downloads of the project app