About US

EU for Global partners are seven civil society organisations and one university from eight European Union Member States. We have come together to foster transnational cooperation and participation of citizens and residents through the democracy tools the Union provides.

Together we are organising an Online Consultation and the 16 Citizens’ Panels to collect opinions of those living in the EU on:

  • the democracy instruments they perceive to have access to
  • the values they associate with the Union
  • the values the Union should carry out into the world
  • what the role of the EU in the world should be in regards to democracy and global challenges

 

What is driving us?

The EU for Global project takes place as a response to rising Euroscepticism and threats to global democracies. The contemporary challenges that the world is facing – conflicts, information manipulation, democratic backsliding, climate change, financial crises – are causing a rise of distrust in transnational institutions. Citizens feel increasingly disconnected from decision-making processes, particularly in external policies. Though trust in the EU is similarly wavering, citizens and residents still view the Union as a vital international player, within the region and beyond its borders.

Global challenges are matters that affect all people of the world. To address them, transnational institutions need to be reflective of people’s needs, which is possible with global governance and participatory democracy.

Goals & Mission

 

The EU for Global partners are working together to understand how people living in the EU stand on the work and values of the EU. Specifically, how they see the role of the EU in its external actions and how they can help shape it through the participatory tools that the Union provides.

It is our mission to go beyond the EU borders to call for action for a more democratic transnational participation. This is why the Citizens’ Panels serve as a place for informed discussions on current global challenges. The outcome of the Panels will be a set of recommendations on the role of the EU towards global issues.

The European Union is the first and only transnational institution in the world that makes use of an advanced set of participatory tools allowing its citizens to contribute to decision-making. The European Citizens’ Initiative, the European Citizens’ Panels, directly elected representatives, are just some examples of this. Through the organisation of Citizens’ Panels, we aim to understand how these participatory mechanisms can be applied in other transnational institutions and what the role of the EU is in sharing the experiences with these tools with the rest of the world.

The goals of the project are varied and all based on the belief that it is only with inclusive, participatory strategies and by amplifying underrepresented voices that we can democratise transnational governance and make it equipped to handle the biggest challenges of our time.

OUR GOALS:

  • Strengthen trust in democracy and transnational institutions
  • Foster democratic participation of traditionally underrepresented groups in decision-making
  • Raise awareness on the participatory tools that exist within the EU
  • Examine how citizens and residents want to take part in EU foreign policy
  • Collect co-designed policy recommendations with different local, national and regional perspectives
  • Champion for the implementation of the policy recommendations by sharing them with the EU High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy as well as with local, national, regional and transnational policy- makers

5 + 10 =