A panel discussion on the participation of citizens and civil society organisations in the EU policymaking processes was held at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb on 13 November, as the first, kick-off event within the Jean Monnet Chair project „Active European Democratic Citizenship for Resilient Society“.
The event started with an interesting interaction with the Head of European Commission Representation in Croatia, Andrea Covic. During the discussion, a number of topics were opened such as the effectiveness of different participation and deliberation mechanisms, lessons learned from the Conference on the Future of Europe, as well as expectations from European citizen panels. In addition, students inquired about the European Commission outreach activities at the local, grass-roots levels, but also about recent debates on the civic space and possible implications of the „EU Foreign Agents Act “, and other initiatives aiming at fighting disinformation and foreign interference in EU democratic decision-making processes.
In the second part, the panel discussion focused on supporting the advocacy capacities of CSOs and active European citizenship in Croatia. Ms Maja Dodić shared her insights on the contribution of EEA and Norway Grants and Active Citizens Fund (ACF) to building capacities of CSOs in Croatia. Then, Marina Škrabalo and Ivan Blazevic from the SOLIDARNA Foundation shared their experiences in implementing ACF in Croatia and other programs of supporting capacities of CSOs for policy advocacy and citizen engagement. Professor Mario Munta opened interesting perspectives on the building capacities of CSOs for policy advocacy through cooperation with the academic community.
The panel discussion gathered more than 60 participants. It was facilitated by Professor, Igor Vidačak, holder of Jean Monnet Chair.
