Moving EuropE Together (MEET) is an ambitious project to ensure EU citizens get a seat at the table in the debate on the future of the European Union. Set up by a network of civil society organisations across eight member states and coordinated by the EPC, MEET will run alongside and interact with the Conference on the Future of Europe, connecting people, ideas and policies across borders.
After some delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) has finally taken off. Its aim is to involve EU citizens in a broad debate on the future direction of the European Union, inviting them to play a leading part in determining its policy priorities. But despite the Conference's noble aspirations, there are no guarantees that it will be able to systematically engage people at the local, regional, and national level, or link these different tiers with each other and to the deliberations taking place in the framework of the Conference.
The Moving EuropE Together (MEET) project aims to try and fill that gap. Together with a network of civil society organisations in eight member states across Europe, we will set up on- and offline debates between EU policymakers (including MEPs) and citizens in parallel with the Conference. These 'Local Citizens' Agoras' (LCAs) will supplement and reinforce the participatory elements in the Conference and connect back to the discussions happening at the national and EU level, and the Conference process itself.
Irrespective of its eventual outcome(s), the Conference on the Future of Europe will be one of the highest-profile events on the European calendar for the years to come, with buy-in from all the EU institutions. Effective citizens' participation is both a driving rationale and the main feature of the design of this project. The overarching goal of MEET is to ensure that the citizens' dimension of the Conference goes beyond uncoordinated and one-off events that fail to produce meaningful and lasting impact either on the Conference or the practice of citizens' participation in Europe. To implement and deliver its vision, the project will involve CSOs transnationally, reinforcing bottom-up synergies and Europe-wide collaboration.