European Citizens’ Initiative: giving citizens the confidence to take the initiative

The European Citizens’ Initiative Roadshow kicked off its second year with a half-day knowledge sharing workshop in Valletta, Malta on 13 March 2018. Following a successful first year travelling across Europe and meeting citizens in Bulgaria, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, France, Portugal and Austria, the campaign team set off once again to meet more engaged citizens and continue raising awareness of the European Citizens’ Initiative as a tool of participatory democracy.

The half-day knowledge sharing workshop in Valletta was the first stop of a ten-country European tour, which will see the Roadshow visit the Netherlands, Romania, Finland, Estonia, Spain, Greece, Slovakia, Slovenia and Belgium by the end of the year.

The workshop gathered a number of citizens from the civil society working in a variety of areas and active in the field of participatory democracy. The aim of the workshop was to provide the participants with useful information about the European Citizens’ Initiative, increase their knowledge of the tool and give them the confidence to take the initiative.

Adrian Dominic Ellul, Vice-President of the Malta Youth Council moderated the conference, which offered an informal and participative atmosphere encouraging participants to engage actively.

 “Apathy” – Flagged as the biggest challenge to democracy and political involvement

Apathy. This was the key word which came out of the conversation between the moderator, Adrian Dominic Ellul, Yana Pargova, #EUTakeTheInitiative Campaign Manager, Mélissa Capiot, #EUTakeTheInitiative Campaign Coordinator and the participants. The audience shared its concern about the fact that more and more citizens across Europe are developing a strong sense of indifference and are turning away from taking advantage of their rights as citizens.

This feeling of apathy finds its roots in the growing idea that citizens are not being heard by their representatives and that their actions cannot truly change. The participants, however highlighted that the European Citizens’ Initiative is a positive tool in fighting apathy and were eager to learn more about it. Many participants made it clear that they would like to get more involved but don’t necessarily know how. They did agree that the European Citizens’ Initiative gives them a good working framework and opportunities to propose change.

“Malta’s political scene and active citizenship”

The participants referred to the Maltese political landscape during the conversation, shedding the light on a deep-rooted political duality. They explained that politics is a family matter and has a big influence on the Maltese citizens and their everyday life. The participants debated on whether this factor was beneficial or instead a disadvantage to active citizenship. The room was quite divided on the matter, some saying that the political landscape is unlikely to change and therefore efforts to get more involved are often made more complicated, whereas others believed that some change can be initiated namely through tools such as the European Citizens’ Initiative or citizens’ dialogue.

“Where is the youth?”

The conversation continued on the point of youth engagement. Malta is one of the three European countries where voting age is lower than 18 years old (the other two include: Austria 16 and Greece 17). Last year Malta lowered the voting age to 16. The participants communicated their concern that the youth does not know enough about politics or does not show enough interest to be given such an important role to play. They also underlined that there was a lack of involvement from the youth nowadays and that solutions must be found to draw their attention to the societal issues that concern them. Adrian Dominic Ellul indicated that the Malta Youth Council was taking action to include into schools’ curriculum more information about politics, active citizenship, participatory democracy etc.

Coming together to discuss and share ideas

Following a fruitful open discussion, a breakout session on how to promote a citizens’ initiative gave the participants a further say and provided them with useful tips and tools to launch an initiative..

Although the group identified some challenges, they were very positive about the European Citizens’ Initiative and listed many solutions to overcome the difficulties they might encounter. The main outcome was the unanimous feeling that an initiative must be carried in a positive way, as an opportunity to spark a debate, to get people talking and acting. One of the key ideas that came up is the importance to humanise the initiative, make it easily understandable and relatable to the general audience so that people want to get involved.

The group also came up with some innovative ideas such as:

• Setting-up a mentoring program facilitating access with previous initiative organisers;
• Nominating ambassadors and influencers to promote an initiative and make it more visible;
• Bringing together free thinkers during events, workshops etc.

Overall, the workshop provided the participants a space to share their ideas and concerns. We look forward to meeting more citizens in The Netherlands during the Democracy Alive! Festival, our next stop this year.