EUMANS invites you to attend “(Digital) Democracy is a human right”, a one-day event from 9.00 AM to 5.30 PM on 6 December 2022, at the Economic and Social Committee, Rue Belliard, Bruxelles.
DRAFT PROGRAM (confirmed speakers will be added progressively)
5th DECEMBER (ONLY ITALIAN)
℅ La Piola Libri, 66/68 Rue Franklin
Book presentation of “ Cosi san tutt3” with the presence of Marco Cappato, Marco Perduca e Gaia Taffoni, Teaching Assistant, European University Institute, Claudia Basta, Research Fellow, Utrecht University.
The presentation is co-promoted by ARCI Bruxelles.
6th DECEMBER 2022
9.00am – 9.15am Registration at the European Economic and Social Committee (bring your ID)
9.15am – 10.30am Session 1– A rule of law based digital democracy
Introductory remarks: Philip von Brockdorff, EESC rapporteur on Digital Sovereignty and Deputy Dean at Malta University, and Marco Cappato, Co-president of EUMANS
Confirmed Speakers:
- Rasmus Øjvind Nielsen, Postdoctoral Researcher in Politics and Public Administration at Roskilde School of Governance and co-author of the book European E-Democracy in Practice
- Virginia Fiume, Co-president of EUMANS
- Claudio Radaelli, Professor of Comparative Public Policy at School of Transnational Governance and member of Science for Democracy
- Gianluca Sgueo, Professor in Digital Democracy & Public Spaces at SciencesPo Paris
- Gaia Manco, administrative manager at the European Parliament, and project manager of together.eu, the citizen and civil society engagement project of the European Parliament
- Ophelie Masson, Projects Coordinator European Alternatives and Citizens Take Over Europe
10.30am – 10.45am Coffee break
10.45am – 12.00pm Session 2 – Round table on digital democracy and identification of shared objectives
Moderator: Virginia Fiume, Co-president of EUMANS
Confirmed Panellists:
- Dmytro Khutkyy, Visiting Senior Policy Analyst, European Citizen Action Service, Brussels, Belgium
- Alexis Gergoulis, Member of the European Parliament, Shadow Rapporteur on EU Citizenship Report 2020: empowering citizens and protecting their rights
- Marco Perduca, Co-founder of Science for Democracy and former Italian Senator
- Martina Rubino, Advocacy Officer at European Citizens Rights Involvement and Trust foundation
- Ada-Charlotte Regelman, curator of the volume "The crisis and future of democracy" published by the Rosa-Luxembourg Stiftung
12.00 - 13.00 LUNCH (vegetarian catering provided by the organisers)
13.00 - 14.15
SESSION 3 - P-CUBE - Playing Public Policy - showcase and interactive session
Introductions by Professor Jacque Zillier and Professor Claudio Radaelli
Demonstration of the game with Saga Smith, Project Officer at Science for Democracy
Students and lecturers are more than welcome to attend, for more info, please email s.smith@sciencefordemocracy.org
14.15 - 14.30 COFFEE BREAK
14.30 - 15.00
Session 4 - A PERMANENT EUROPEAN CITIZENS ASSEMBLY: A COLLABORATIVE BLUEPRINT (session curated by Citizens Take Over Europe)
Introduced by Lorenzo Mineo, coordinator of EUMANS in Italy
- Ulrike Liebert, Professor of Political Science University of Bremen and member of the coalition Citizens Take Over Europe
- Michele Fiorillo, coordinator of the working group for a European Citizens Assembly of the coalition Citizens Take Over Europe
- Ophélie Masson, Projects Coordinator at European Alternatives and co-coordinator of the coalition Citizens Take Over Europe
15.00 - 17.30
SESSION 5 - TRANSNATIONAL EUROPEAN CITIZENS ASSEMBLY ON END-OF-LIFE-DECISIONS
This session aims to bring together people that wish to change the current policies and regulations in place all over EU Member States on end-of-life decisions addressing how EU-rules should look to ensure the right to personal self-determination. Informed Individual choices should be treated as a fundamental right all over the European Union as recommended by the citizens' panels of the Conference on the Future of Europe (recommendation n. 24) - You can find more info on the Assembly at this link
The session is organised in collaboration with the legal and policy team of Associazione Luca Coscioni per la Libertá di Ricerca Scientifica APS.
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The event is organised in collaboration with other partners: Science for Democracy, Citizens Take Over Europe, P-Cube, The Consumers Empowerment Project. In the context of this event, Eumans is also hosting the “Transnational European Assembly on end-of-life-decisions policies” that can be attended as a standalone session to promote the initiatives for a permanent European Citizens Assembly in collaboration with the coalition Citizens Take Over Europe.
WHY THIS EVENT
Last summer, on the eve of the Italian parliamentary elections, 25 Italian citizens went on hunger strike for the affirmations of their civil and political rights in Italy denouncing the discrimination against groups that wanted to participate in the elections and that did not have a representation in Parliament. The current law in Italy mandates new lists to collect a significant number of signatures (around 35.000 proportionally distribute around the country) in a limited amount of time (45 days) shortened by the abrupt cessation of the term in July.
The hunger strikers, and EUMANS, were urging Italian institutions to allow the collection of digital signatures to present electoral lists. In August and September 2021 almost 900.000 signatures were collected to present two referenda (on euthanasia and cannabis), signatures that were accepted by the Cassation Court.
The transition towards a digital ecosystem is at the center of the EIDAS Regulation framework, extending the system experimented in 2021 would have further implemented the EU measure. The Courts of Appeal accepted the signatures but said that they were not competent to decide if such a system would allowed, the Tribunal of Milan ruled twice against it. A series of judiciary actions are now ongoing.
The initiative is the last of a long list of action promoted over the last 10 years by EUMANS and its partners to remove the “unreasonable obstacles” to democratic participation in Italy (full dossier here). A series of activities that can be connected to several other “democratic emergencies” in the European Union.
The Conference on the Future of Europe has been an innovative, albeit fragile, process that included a digital platform for citizens participation and some embryonic experiments of sortition-based citizens panels. How this will be followed up can make the difference between a “nice experiment” and an important stepping stone for the democratization process of the European Union.
The event in Brussels on 6 December (9.00 - 17.30) is a day of discussion and political elaboration and practice on the most pressing reforms at the EU level and within the EU Member States to increase the accessibility of democratic processes in the Union.
REGISTER NOW TO ATTEND THE EVEN IN PERSON IN BRUSSELS
EUMANS wants to bring together citizens, activists, experts, academics and representatives of the local, national and EU institutions to define a path to strengthen individual rights through the promotion of the rule of law and democratic values in the European Union. The main focus will be technological enablement to facilitate civic participation within the framework of a European Digital Identity. It will also be an opportunity to experiment some democratic innovations, such as the use of educational tools in universities (P-Cube - Playing Public Policy) and the introduction of new forms of deliberative participation like transnational citizens assemblies.
Register now to attend the event in person in Brussels
ORGANIZERS
EUMANS, a pan-European Movement of popular and nonviolent initiatives. EUMANS promotes the defence of human rights and fundamental freedoms, the affirmation of the rule of law and democracy, the protection, conversation and restoration of the ecosystem and sustainable development as well as the promotion of science-based debates and institutional decisions.
The Transnational Citizens Assembly is also organised in collaboration with Associazione Luca Coscioni per la libertá di ricerca scientifica APS, active nationally and internationally in the promotion of individual freedoms and civil rights, particularly on the matters related to end-of-life decisions.
This event is co-organised with Science for Democracy. Science for Democracy is a platform that connects academics, policy makers and civil society organisations for the promotion of the “Right to Science”.
The event is part of the Consumer Empowerment Project, funded by Euroconsumers and Google, which aims to improve the digital ecosystem for consumers and help consumers understand their rights so that they can make better informed decisions.
The event will showcase the P-Cube project, which aims to help people learn how decisions are taken in the public sphere by covering the individual elements of the policy-making process, placing special emphasis on non-incremental policy change.
Further in collaboration with Citizens Take Over Europe, a civil society organisation that emerged in the spring 2020 amidst the recent Covid-19 pandemic. Citizens Take over Europe is a group of civil society organisations, citizens and residents from across Europe, joined in a common effort to promote a forward-looking and citizens-centred European democracy.
The Transnational European Assembly is co-funded by the European Union.
