On 1st September starts the implementation of the project “Vote 4 Your Europe” with support of the Europe for Citizens programme of the European Union. The beneficiary Association “Expert Pool – Bulgaria” in partnership with the organizations: Union of Associations MULTIKULTURA – Poland, Shoqata Shqiptare e Ambientalisteve Industriale (AAIE) – Albania, APSHSTDC – Portugal, PROFAT – Lithuania, IFIDE – Spain, PEIPSI CTC – Estonia, M2C Institut – Germany, EUROPEAN REPUBLIC – Greece, Eprojectconsult – Italy, has initiated the project in order to foster European citizenship.

The project addresses the following challenges:

* low turnout in the European Parliament elections 2014 and need to motivate the people to participate in coming EP elections 2019;

* rising Euroscepticism which reflect on democratic legitimacy of the EU decision-making process;

* need of debates how to help EU to come closer to its citizens and debates about concrete ways to create a more democratic Union;

* a growing need for momentum for active democratic participation and constructive dialogue for the future of EU.

Regarding these challenges the general project objective is to find a new set of tools for citizenship awareness by implementing a series of workshops that compare and discuss the different political agendas in the beneficiary countries. Specific objectives:

* Motivating the EU citizens to go to the polls and encouraging their active democratic participation;

* Developing a stronger sense of ownership of the European project;

* Provoking a debate on the rise of Euroscepticism and its implications for the voting process and future of the EU.

The project duration is 12 months. 3 transnational project activities will be held:

* Youth space: why voting is important (in Bulgaria) – young people from beneficiary countries discussing how to increase youth interest and engage young people in democratic elections.

* Democracy tourists (in Portugal) – showing democracy in action in every project country through videos, interviews, photographs, storytelling, etc.

* A democracy day (in Germany) – event presenting the state of democracy in the EU, democracy’s forgotten turning points.

In every project country will be implemented a workshop “A Game of Opinions”, aimed at gathering and comparing the individual opinions of the citizens on how policy agendas are and should be implemented within the EU political framework.

You can find the project card, including a list of the project partners, detailed overview and map here.

 

This publication reflects only the author’s view. The EACEA and the Commission are not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.