How can Belgium’s democratic participation be improved? The improvement of democracy in Belgium can come about through reactivating civic engagement, but civic engagement, in turn, depends on adequate levels of education: citizens need to know why it is worth to mobilise and how they can do it.
22. April 2016
Why are European citizens turning their back on our political system and what needs to be done to give a new impetus to democracy in Europe? Is the EU as it is now compatible with participatory democracy? Is representative democracy the model to follow and can it be applied at every level of governance? Why has the EU lost its mojo among the people of Europe?
Concerned about these developments, FutureLab Europe’s fifth generation worked on a publication calling for concrete measures to address the root causes of these European malaises by bridging the gap between citizens and decision makers.
FutureLab Europe’s fifth generation discussed its publication “Bring Back the Citizens! How to Revive Democratic Participation for a citizens-led Europe” with Antonio Silva Mendes, Director for Youth and Sport at DG Education and Culture in the European Commission and Sven Giegold, Member of the European Parliament.
Read more ...29 March 2016
The past few years have not been easy ones for democracy in Europe. Alarmingly low levels of electoral participation have been registered in many EU member states, including at the latest European elections of May 2014, which registered the lowest voter turnout on record, with an all-time low of 42.54%. In many EU member states – such as Greece, France, Spain, Slovakia and Italy – anti systemic, populist parties have emerged strong and powerful. Poland and Hungary’s illiberal turn poses an additional threat to democracy on our continent.
Posted on 16. December 2014
With 2014 almost over, the presidency of the Group of Twenty (G20) was passed to Turkey from Australia. The G20 met in mid-November in Brisbane, Australia and the outcome of the meetings and the communique was not as widely covered by the media as the premature departure of the Russian president. All eyes were on Putin; the G8 summit that was meant to be held in Sochi in June was transformed into a G7 meeting in Brussels without Russia, to protest against the Russian annexation of Crimea.
