Active Citizens Towards Stronger European Union

ended

"Europe is at a crossroad and needs to decide how it wants to tackle the challenges of today: the impact of new technologies on society, equality, climate change, migration and security concerns, the effects of the COVID-19 crisis. These are difficult times, but Europe has always been able to adapt. The ""ACT Stronger"" project comes to support all current EU initiatives, aiming to respond better to the changing reality and to transform challenges into opportunities. Our objective is to summarize the progress made in the 8 Member States (Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Spain) on the European democracy action plan & the results from the EU Citizenship report 2020, to analyse the strengths and weaknesses in the local/regional policies and develop Citizens' Europe e-Paper, focusing on the opportunities for better EU future, suggested by citizens from 15 countries and different profiles, backgrounds and ages. Facing the 2024 EU Parliament elections, the project partners consider necessary to provide the MEPs with recommendations raised by the citizens on their alternative visions for the future of Europe. Policy makers should listen to the voice of the people and demonstrate that citizens’ concerns are considered in the next strategic agenda. The project will directly involve 800 citizens in forums, debates, and solidarity acts on the EU challenges, treating a specific topic in each partner country: 2024 Parliament elections in BG, migration & security in CY, e-democracy in FR, young and older people inclusion in DE, Climate Change in GR, COVID-19 crisis in IT, equality in ES, disinformation & media literacy in LT. Approximately 8000 citizens will be reached indirectly through the project social media, awareness raising campaigns, video competition #ActStronger on YouTube, local expositions and street events, so to engage people in the EU idea and empower them to overcome internal differences & stay united to tackle the trials of our times."