The EU for Global Local Citizens Panel took place in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria, on November 28th, 2025, hosted by the European Information Centre (EIC). During the citizens’ panel, participants focused on one of the most important topics of our time – disinformation and fake news and their impact on democratic participation and trust in public processes. The discussions examined the challenges associated with disinformation, misinformation, and fake news, as well as the ways in which they influence civic elections, critical thinking, and the ability of society to make informed decisions. Specific recommendations were formulated for preventing and addressing these phenomena, including strengthening media literacy, promoting critical skills among young people, and providing information on accessible tools for verifying information.
The recommendation generated by the discussions includes four main focuses:
Strengthening media and information literacy among diverse age groups, but especially young people.
- Media literacy should be taught in schools at an early age before the children have access to the media.
- Media literacy should be a policy priority in terms of education.
Prioritizing the development of critical thinking skills among young people
- Change the focus of education from memory oriented to reflection oriented.
- Lessen the quantity of information in the curriculum to provide time for skills development, including communication and critical thinking skills.
Enhancing educational programmes that promote responsible and ethical communication
- Stimulating international projects that focus on the media literacy and democratic participation.
- Creation of a common European online database of educational resources aimed at media literacy.
- Creation of online educational games for media literacy to be used in schools and universities.
- Civic education in schools should be practice not only theory.
Encouraging the use and wider dissemination of trustworthy fact-checking tools and verification practices.
- Better promotion of existing facts checking possibilities like sites and apps. Promote the elaboration of more.
- Create AI detectors for media in social media platforms.
- Prevent the spread of disinformation and misinformation through monitoring sites with systematic practice of publishing misleading information.
- Aim for media platforms and journalists to be trained to use open sources for information verification to ensure the dissemination of reliable information.
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.
