CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVES
The European Commission set up Citizens’ Panels following the Conference on the Future of Europe (2021–2022). This event brought together 800 citizens from across the EU, who made 178 recommendations. These led to 49 concrete proposals and over 300 related actions. A strong message came through: people want to be more involved in shaping European decisions.
Over the past two years, new Citizens’ Panels have been organised to explore important topics such as food waste, virtual worlds, energy efficiency, and tackling hate in society.
The current panel will focus on a key topic: preparing the EU’s next long-term budget, which will run from 2028 to 2034. The goal is to make sure the budget reflects citizens’ priorities and ambitions.
In today’s challenging global context, this next EU budget will play a major role in shaping Europe’s future. It will impact quality of life, jobs, support for businesses, students, farmers, research, regions, and local communities—both in Europe and beyond. At the same time, it will need to address urgent priorities like defence and security.
This is why the Citizens’ Panel is so important. It will open up a shared discussion on the investment needs for the years ahead and on how to finance them.
Citizens will meet to discuss these issues in three sessions:
- In Brussels, from 28 to 30 March;
- Online, from 25 to 27 April;
- Back in Brussels, from 16 to 18 May.
A group of experts from different backgrounds will support the process. They will provide information and help make sure the discussions are clear and easy to follow, even though the topic is complex.
MISSION MOdalities
As co-coordinators of the panels with our partners ifok, Missions Publiques’ role in this project includes steering with the European Commission, methodological design, main moderation, facilitation in working groups, support in synthesising recommendations, and reporting.
Find out more here.