Democratic Odyssey

ended

How can Europe deliver faster, fairer, and more decisive action on issues of planetary importance? We believe that the answer lies in empowering publics of all stripes and in striking a new bargain between traditional representative politics and genuine citizen engagement, by promoting meaningful participation of citizens in the debates on the future of Europe. Transnational citizens’ assemblies are at the heart of such democratic renewal and the Conference on the future of Europe was a promising starting point. Across the EU, peoples’ juries and panels of all kinds are already shaking-up inertia. Municipal and regional councils are coordinating participatory budgeting via trans-local networks. MEPs are integrating deliberative techniques and transnational problem-solving exercises into party-political consultations. The European Commission has gone even further by convening randomly selected, stratified, multi-lingual citizens’ panels to bring people directly into the policy-making process. But what if there was scope for something more ambitious still? What if a broader European public could be mobilized to take ownership of these innovations? The Democratic Odyssey seeks to empower the European citizenry by means of 1) a transnational assembly, bringing together 200 citizens across borders in 5 dedicated sessions, 2) an interconnected assembly, which builds on ongoing European initiatives, 3) a recognizable assembly, radically transparent and open in its process and sessions, to serve a pedagogical function for all, 4) a travelling assembly ready to sit in various configurations, in various places around Europe, 5) an empowering assembly, involving civil society and cultural actors, trade unions, administrations and policy-makers at different levels of governance. The Democratic Odyssey project promotes a greater sense of belonging to the EU and its values through inclusive citizens deliberation on the big issues of our time and constructive conversation.