At the Century of Ideas Festival 2025 in Aarhus, Denmark Nyt Europa participated in the EU4Global project with a citizens assembly moderated by Steen Gade. The assembly focused on the possibilities for citizen’s influence in EU policy making.
What are the actual possibilities for influence for European citizens?
We focused on the different possibilities for influence that exist in the EU, both as citizen contact with the European institutions, as citizen contact with politicians, and as organizations that are part of the decision-making process. The event was held as part of our project, EU4Global, in which we host knowledge events and citizen assemblies focused on involving citizens in decision-making processes.
Citizen proposals and citizen assemblies
The participating citizens were presented with examples of how a citizen proposal can go from a signature collection to real influence, including with a focus on the signature collection that Nyt Europa participated in together with Greenpeace, the Danish Ornithological Society and WWF, where 1.2 million signatures were collected at the European level. We also presented the citizen assemblies that are held in connection with the EU4Global project, and the citizen assemblies we have held under our previous project, REAL DEAL.
The informal channels
We also talked about the informal possibilities for influence, for example when Nyt Europa in 2019 was in Berlin in connection with the projects History of Optimism and Young Europe. Here, one of Nyt Europa’s young participants had the opportunity to take part in a debate about civil society in Europe, had a private conversation with Ursula von der Leyen, and was subsequently invited to dinner with Angela Merkel. The young participant handed over a youth manifesto prepared by a group of young people in the Young Europe project. This type of influence is something Nyt Europa works a great deal with, where we, based on citizen assemblies and activities, write manifestos and reports, which we can later present to politicians.
Can we see the possibilities – or does it all seem hopeless?
Several of the participants expressed that they were not aware of all the forms of influence – and were not aware of the possibility, for example, to sign European citizen proposals and take part in citizen assemblies via EU-sponsored projects. We talked with the participants about how the EU is closer than you might think, and that we need to remember to make use of the EU. The EU can do a lot – if we are just willing to let the possibilities in. Several of the participants expressed that they find the EU system complicated and that it seems to be for the insiders. If you don’t know where to find the different possibilities, then you won’t find them.
Nyt Europa
To read all the recommendations collected throughout Europe during Local and Transnational Citizens’ Panels, click here.
The EU for Global project is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CERV. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
