Active EU Citizenship
The “Exchanging good practices for the promotion of an active citizenship in the European Union” (EPACE) project addressed the challenges related to the decreasing level of political and societal participation of citizens. The main objective of the project was to elaborate and exchange good citizen participation practices in order to increase and promote participatory opportunities within the European Union member states.
eGA conducted researches, consulted project partners and drafted and wrote two international publications within the framework of the EPACE project.
The e-Democracy publication published by eGA serves as practical complimentary resource to the Recommendation on e-Democracy, enacted by the Council of Europe (CoE Recommendations in text) in February 2009. It presents a set of best practices and guidelines aiming to facilitate the implementation of the general principles of the Recommendations. In the interest of completeness, the publication also presents some of the main definitions related to e-democracy and a short overview of the principles of e-democracy provided by the CoE CAHDE Recommendation. The material for the publications has been compiled through an analysis of answers to a questionnaire, which was sent to practitioners in the field of e-democracy as well as by a desktop study of the published cases.
This practical presentation of best practices is first of all targeted at public sector officials and institutions responsible for dealing with public participation and democracy issues; though, hopefully, this material can inspire the wider public, including representatives of civil society organizations.
Most of the best practices are relevant at the central government level. However, considering the important role local governments play in many European countries, and the proximity of this institutional level to citizens, a special chapter is dedicated to local e-democracy. Both Publications (e-Democracy and Democracy Administration) are available on the eGA website.