ALL.4.EU: Citizens for Europe
An opportunity to play an active role in the construction of Europe !
The need to build the future Europe with the full contribution of its citizens, by promoting their
involvement from the local level, has become one of the main priorities of the European Union.
It is a common belief that Europe should promote the participative democracy as one of its
characterizing values and should offer to its citizens and to civil society instruments to exchange ideas
on the future of the European Union. The promotion of trans-national projects and trainings can
undoubtedly contribute to get Europe closer to its citizens.
ALL.4.EU: Citizens for Europe
ALL.4.EU is a project consisting in the setting-up of citizens’ panels (= groups of “ordinary”
citizens, not spontaneously involved in European issues) in 7 different places in Europe. This
specific methodology is used to give the opportunity to people to be involved and play an active role in
the construction of Europe.
The main overall objectives of the project are:
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- to encourage the participation of European citizens in the construction of Europe and in the
debate about the further integration of Europe
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- to enhance the relation between European citizens and EU institutions
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- to promote a "two-way process" (information and feedback) between EU Institutions and
citizens
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- to encourage a bottom up approach to allow citizens to express their views
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- to develop innovative methods to enhance participation
The specific objectives of the project, in line with the objectives of the Call for proposals, are :
- to create and support "citizens' panels" to promote active European Citizenship at the local
level
- to collect the opinion of citizens on some key European challenges for the future, focusing
mainly on active European Citizenship and new institutional developments,
- to consolidate and improve, starting from the pilot project developed by ALDA, a method for
stimulating active interaction and discussion between citizens on their participation at the
European level
- to create mechanisms that enable European citizens to develop civic competences, to
formulate their views and opinions on the role of citizens and civil society in Europe in the form
of recommendations for policy makers at European level
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- to encourage the dialogue between European citizens and the institutions of the EU,
empowering citizens as regards EU policies and their impact, and ensuring appropriate follow
up of citizens' opinions by the EU institutions
STRUCTURE OF THE PROJECT : 10 STEPS
1. SWOT Analysis at the local level
- to assess the situation of citizens participation in each community involved
- run by partners, in cooperation with local authorities and civil society organizations of each
community involved with the technical support of experts of the Association of the Local Democracy
Agencies.
- main aim: to identify, at the local level, the existing practices, tools, models in the field of citizens’
participation in order to “profit” of the best practices and to promote synergies between the project and
the on-going experiences.
2. Training for citizens’ panels activators + international workshop
Training for citizens’ panels activators
- to train reliable, credible and capable activators who are able to set-up citizens panels.
- activators = "leading citizens" selected by partners among civil society and local authorities
representatives who are already active at the local level, from different walks of life, paying attention
to involve leading citizens of different demographic, social and professional background.
- aim: providing participants the opportunity to develop their knowledge, skills and competencies
concerning:
 knowledge of the concept of “active citizenship” and “active European citizenship”
 knowledge of different tools in the field of active citizenship (including the Europe for citizens
Programme)
 understanding of the concept of non-formal education
 intercultural competences
 skills to motivate others
 skills to gather, select and give information
 skills to present the specific relevant information, ideas and opinions to others, including to the
local, regional and European decision makers
 skills to discover, analyse and adequately address needs
 skills to draft of recommendations and position papers to be addressed to decision makers at all
levels
During the training, the selected theme – “New institutional developments: a new momentum for
active European citizenship” – will be also presented in details to the participants.
The training will be split in 3 different phases:
 phase A: the first two days will be focused on training and providing to participants the
necessary and adequate information, knowledge, skills and competencies to act as “citizens
panels activators” at the local level;
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 phase B: the third day the programme foresees the “International workshop: best practices
for citizens participation” (see step 2/B)
 phase C: the last two days will be focused on sharing a common understanding of citizens
panel, defining its characteristics and functioning in order to adopt the same “methodology”
in all the communities involved; the partners, thus, with a real bottom-up approach and
involving some “leading citizens” will define themselves the understanding of citizen panels
at the beginning of the project.
Expected number of participants: 21
Participants: 3 leading citizens for each community involved (7 communities)
Duration: 5 days (including 1 day of the international workshop)
Location: Strasbourg - France
Interntional workshop: best practices in citizens’ participation
- 3rd day of the training for citizens’ panels activators: International workshop to present and exchange
the different models and the best practices (i.e. citizens panels, civic forums, civic committees, etc.) in
the field of citizens participation.
- main aim : to provide to participants of the training (in the middle of the training) – and to the other
external participants - the opportunity to get acquainted with the existing models of direct and indirect
citizens’ participation at European level, and to know the best experiences and practices, in order to
help them to define the characteristics and the functioning of their new citizens panels (task foreseen
in the last two days of the training):
The international workshop will also aim at:
 presenting the whole proposal to the general public and to the main stakeholders, especially
focusing on the innovative participatory methods proposed;
 making partners know each others and making them meet relevant stakeholders;
 promoting the action, especially through media on an extensive basis, involving local, national
and international "channels".
Expected number of participants: 50
Participants: representatives of the different partners; experienced citizens’ panels representatives
(involved in the previous pilot project “Eur-action” promoted by ALDA); participants of the training
("leading" citizens), selected by partners at the first stage among the already active civil society
groups and local authorities at the local level; local authorities representatives; journalists and media;
representatives of the Directorate for Education and Culture of the European Commission; experts.
Duration: 1 day
Location: Strasbourg - France
3. Set-up of local citizens’ panels
At the local level, each partner will promote a 1-day event, focusing on the selected theme, with the
aims to present the project and its methodology in order to select the participants of the new citizens’
panels to be established.
The main aims of the event are:
 to encourage the participation at the local level
 to raise awareness about the importance of actively participating in the construction of Europe
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 to provide first relevant information on the topic to be addressed
 to launch the citizens panels building process, presenting their mission to be carried out both at
the local and at the European level;
 to present the “tasks” of citizens’ panels, focusing in particular on the research to be developed
at the local level (relevant inputs guidelines for the research activity will be provided at this
stage).
The event will be run by experts who will use an interactive approach and IT methods and tools.
The event will be promoted by the “citizens panels activators” trained at the beginning of the project,
in strict cooperation with all project partners.
At this stage, the selection of participants will be done.
Participants will be selected on voluntary basis; their selection will follow two different strategies in
order to involve the highest number of citizens with different walks of life:
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through the “activators”, who are asked to invite to the event and to involve 10 persons each, for a
total number of 30 persons (the participants involved through the activators will be mainly local
authorities and civil society representatives who would not have spontaneously participated in
projects of a European nature);
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through an “open call”, publishing the event on an extensive basis at the local level, trying to involve
at least 40 “ordinary” citizens on a voluntary basis (the participants involved through the open call
are expected to represent “ordinary citizens”, with different walks of life, who would not have
spontaneously participated in projects of a European nature).
Expected number of participants for each event: 70
Expected number of participants involved in each local citizen panel: 40
Participants: "ordinary" citizens, with different walks of life, who would not have spontaneously
participated in projects of a European nature.
4. Research activity at the local level + preparation of the international meeting
Research activity at the local level
During the event establishing the local citizens’ panels, a research activity involving directly the panels
will be launched. The present project proposal seeks to directly involve the citizens panels,
encouraging a real bottom-up approach, in the collection of relevant, balanced, exhaustive information
on the selected theme, especially regarding the selection of the sources of information.
The content off the research may be linked to the Lisbon Treaty, the European elections foreseen in
2009, possibilities offered to European citizens to get involved in the decision making process…
The research will be realized directly by the citizens panels, subdivided – if necessary – in different
working groups, with the support of a facilitator provided by the each partner.
The different panels will decide on their own the best organization for the research activity, as well as
the way through which they intend to get prepared - and to prepare and organize the outcomes of the
research - for the international meeting of citizens panels (following step 5)
Expected number of participants involve in the research: 7 citizens panels in 7 different communities,
involving about 40 persons each
Participants: citizens involved in the panels
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Preparation for the international meeting
At the local level, citizens panels will autonomously – duly supported by partners – decide their own
agenda in order to get prepared for the international meeting of citizens panels, where they are asked
to exchange their practices and experiences at the local level, as well as to share the outcomes of the
research activity carried out by each panel. This phase mainly aim at promoting an international
meeting through a real bottom-up approach, where citizens and their knowledge represent the main
relevant “resources” for the meeting itself.
Expected number of participants involve in the preparation: 7 citizens panels in 7 different
communities, involving about 40 persons each
Participants: citizens involved in the panels
5. International meeting of citizens’ panels
The European level, a fundamental characteristic of the present proposal, is granted by the
international meetings of citizens panels.
The meeting will be held in the middle of the implementation of the action considering that:
 at the local level, citizens' panels have already been set up and have already experienced some
activities (i.e. the research on the selected theme);
 until the end of the project there is still time to "transfer" to the local level the achievements and
the outcomes (ideas and best practices) of the international meeting of citizens' panels.
The meeting aims at:
 exchanging the information collected through the research carried out at the local level;
 exchanging ideas, practices and experiences related to the citizens’ panels;
 setting up a trans-national citizens' panel;
 developing partnerships among citizens' panels;
 drafting common "position papers" to be submitted to European decision makers;
 coordinating common activities-outputs among partners (i.e. websites, communication issues,
etc.).
At the international meeting a representative of the Directorate Education and Culture of the European
Commission will be invited. The participation in the process of a representative of the EC would
contribute to bridge the gap between citizens and the European Institutions and will promote the role
of receptive interlocutor and real partner played by the EC.
The meeting will last 2 days.
Expected number of participants: 40
Location proposed: Sofia - Bulgaria
6. Info-days at the local level
At the local level, each citizens’ panels, in strict cooperation with the local partner, will promote a 3days workshop structured as follows:
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day 1: presenting the results of the local research and of the outcomes of the international meeting
(information sharing) and providing information through experts and meetings with relevant
stakeholders (information providing)
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day 2: production and drafting of recommendations on the topic addressed to be submitted to
decision makers at the European level (opinion building)
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day 3: open public event, addressed to the whole community, fostering the participation of local
authorities and civil society representatives to communicate the results to local and regional
decision makers (interaction with local and regional decision makers)
The main aim of the local workshop is to share and provide information to the citizens, to provide
them new knowledge, skills and competencies to better interact with local and regional decision
makers, with the European Institutions as "ordinary" citizens, and thus to better play the role of active
European citizens.
During the workshops, trainers and experts will focus on the methods of building individual and
collective opinions and on the way to address them to the decisions makers at all levels, especially
focusing on the Institutions of the EU.
The workshops will last 3 days
Expected participants: 80 each workshop
Locations: partners’ communities
7. Production phase
During the local workshops and the international meeting of citizens’ panels, local (involving
participants of the same citizens’ panel) and international working groups (involving participants of
different citizens’ panels) will be set up to finalize the recommendations to be submitted both to the
local and regional decision makers and to the European ones.
Working groups will employ different working methods which may include the use of ICT. Each
working group will be facilitated, both at the local level and at the European one, by an
expert/facilitator provided by project partners.
The main aim of this phase is to realize an integrated hand-book including all the recommendations to
be presented to the European Commission during the final event.
8. International final workshop
At the end of the project, an international final workshop will be organised in order to:
 submit a set of recommendations on the topic addressed by the project, drafted by citizens’
panels, to the European Commission;
 present the final results of the project and promote its outcomes;
 present to relevant international stakeholders (including local and regional authorities and
representatives of EU Institutions) the citizens' panels as relevant "actors" in the field of
European citizenship;
 increase the visibility of the action;
 draft a follow-up of the action, directly involving partners, citizens' panels and main stakeholders
(including EC representatives);
 strengthen the trans-national cooperation among citizens’ panels.
The final workshop, which is promoted and organized with the direct involvement of citizens’ panels –
in cooperation with project partners - in all its phases, will mainly focus on the submission of the
recommendations to European decision makers.
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Proposals, opinions and position papers drafted by the citizens' panels, both at the national and at the
European level (during the international meeting), will be submitted to the European Commission, also
through the involvement of Euro-MPs.
The Directorate General for Education and Culture of the European Commission will be also invited to
play a relevant role in the final workshop.
The meeting will last 1 day.
Expected number of participants: 80 people
Participants: project partners, representatives of citizens' panels, “ordinary” citizens, local authorities,
civil society groups, local and regional decision makers, representatives of EU Institutions, journalists
and media, experts.
Location proposed: Pula - Croatia
9. Final publication
The final publication, realised at the European level by all the partners with the direct involvement of
citizens' panels, will aim at:
 increasing the visibility of the action
 raising awareness about the role of European citizens
 disseminating information about the activities of citizens' panels
 demonstrating how the democratic and participatory nature of European construction can be
enhanced by engaging citizens
 promoting the method of "citizens' panels"
The publication will include reports of the activities implemented and the documents (position papers,
opinions, recommendations, proposals, etc.) drafted both at the local and at the European level by the
citizens' panels.
It will be printed in 2.000 copies in 3 different languages and disseminated Europe-wide through the
different networks (including ALDA network, encompassing more than 300 members and partners in
the enlarged Europe) the partners belong to.
10. Evaluation and follow-up
At the end of the project, an evaluation meeting will be organised in order to evaluate the whole
proposal and to draft the follow-up of the action. The evaluation meeting will directly involve all the
project partners and representatives of the different citizens’ panels created during the project.
PARTNERS INVOLVED
ALDA: specific and technical supporter
Region Istria, Croatia: leader applicant, coordinator of the project
Foundation for partnership and civil society development, Croatia: coordinator of the activities in Pula
Balkan Assist Association, Bulgaria: coordinator of the activities in Sofia
Municipality of Vejle, Denmark: coordinator of the activities in Velje
Consvipo, Italy: coordinator of the activities in Rovigo
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Local Councils Association Malta: coordinator of the activities in Balzan
ASAEL, Spain: coordinator of the activities in Zaragoza
Centrum for Community Organizing, Slovak Republic: coordinator of the activities in Zvolen
Central and Eastern European Citizens Network, Slovak Republic: dissemination and visibility partner
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