EU’s post-election trajectory: What role for citizens and civil society?

On 10 July 2024, the final event of our EUact2 project, a panel discussion entitled “EU’s post–elections trajectory: What role for citizens and civil society?”, took place in Brussels at the European Policy Center (EPC).  Vladislava Gubalova (Senior Fellow, GLOBSEC) presented the EUact2 project to the audience, which the IDM, represented by Research Associate Sophia Beiter, has been jointly implementing with GLOBSEC, European Movement Ireland and ELIAMEP since 2022. The presentation included a short video summarising the various events and activities during the two-year project. In total, the project reached 1,574 people in person and over 316,000 people online via social media. 

Afterwards, panelists discussed the EU election results and the future role of civil society. The speakers were Antonella Valmorbida (Secretary General, ALDA), Apostolos Samaras (Attorney at Law and Research Fellow, Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy) and Noelle O’Connell (CEO, European Movement Ireland); the session was moderated by Johannes Greubel (Senior Analyst, Head of Transnationalisation Programme and Connecting Europe Lead, EPC).  

In the discussion, the importance of projects such as EUact2 was emphasised, especially in times of shrinking civil space and increasing polarisation in society. With regard to the increasing number of votes for far-right parties both in the EU and in national elections, the panelists agreed that far-right voters should not be demonised, but on the contrary should be listened to, in order to find out why they vote for these parties. The discussion also highlighted the power of civic engagement and the crucial role of civil society for creating trust, awareness and a shared sense of responsibility. Furthermore, the panelists agreed that civil society must decode the added value of the EU for citizens, while the EU itself needs to become more robust and defend its values, which should not be negotiable.