Innovate! Diversify! Empower! Advocate! For a NEW EU

ended

Innovate! Diversify! Empower! Advocate! For a NEW EU (NEWIDEAEU) is a comprehensive program for citizen engagement in European democracy run by European Alternatives. It includes a festival of European citizenship at urban margins; a school of transnational citizenship which provides training and capacity building to young people, to migrants, to women, to disadvantaged groups and to smaller NGOs and civic initiatives; work with parliamentarians on democratic reform, anti-discrimination and enlargement of fundamental rights; campaigning activities through the coalition Citizens Takeover Europe; piloting a permanent European Citizens Assembly; promoting best methodologies of civic deliberation to empower disadvantaged groups at local level; facilitating dialogue with civil society from across Europe following up on the EP elections and first year of Parliament and Commission; fora on the future of transnational democracy involving leading academics, experts and policy makers; and a strong multimedia communications program engaging with diverse civic initiatives across Europe, with voices from EU neighbourhoods and a new human security paradigm for the planet, and mainstreaming feminism, anti-discrimination, anti-racism and planetary responsibility into the values of European citizenship. The activities have the objectives of enlarging the active public for European affairs and diversity of voices in democratic debate and elections, empowering people identifying as women, non-binary, and from underrepresented groups; innovating in the ways citizens organise across borders to deliberate together; and promoting best practices, self-reflexive learning and citizenship education amongst civil society organisations, movements, festival organisers, trade unions, local authorities and European institutions about citizen participation, rights and Europe's planetary responsibilities. The work program involves over 25 countries and 5000 direct participants.