Citizen participation is part of politics all over Europe, but there are rare possibilities for exchange. Within the last years, the government of Baden-Württemberg initiated different settings that allowed experts from politics, administration and science to exchange their experiences and findings. Besides the national exchange with other Bundesländer, Baden-Württemberg has a vital exchange with Switzerland and the Kanton Aargau via the Demokratiekonferenzen. Also on the level of the European Union there is a need for discussion.
Thus, the State Councillor co-founded an international, informal network with other European regions. Its main goal is to share good practice cases in citizen participation and direct democracy with a focus on cross-border and multi-level issues. The networks wants to focus on the conditions and necessary changes in public administration in order to strengthen citizen participation and direct democracy. They want to gather innovative ideas on how to involve citizens and groups who usually do not participate.
Most participants of the network belong to the political-administrative system. They are interested in the following network activities:
- An annual workshop encourage face-to-face discussions and exchange.
- Opening up conferences and other events on citizen participation and direct democracy to network members and, if possible, give them the opportunity to make a presentation at such events.
- To organize study visits before or after conferences to provide network members with deeper insights into participation projects and approaches.
- To create a policy lab by experimenting with specific participation approaches in different regions or member states of the EU.
Further information
Workshop summary and graphic recording
