Malta showing high interest in Conference on the Future of Europe platform – Josianne Cutajar

Maltese are visiting the Conference on the Future of Europe’s online in their numbers, and have been doing so comparatively-speaking than other EU citizens, according to Labour MEP Josianne Cutajar

Maltese are visiting the Conference on the Future of Europe’s online in their numbers, and have been doing so comparatively-speaking than other EU citizens, according to Labour MEP Josianne Cutajar.

Cutajar was speaking at a discussion organised jointly by the European Parliament Office in Malta and the VisMedNet Association in Malta, coordinator of the Young Future Planners Erasmus project. It formed part  of the local discussions in the Conference on the Future of Europe - ongoing throughout Europe for people to have their say on what the future EU should be like.

All in all, people-centred consultations, more listening for more participatory democracy and the need of people to feel that their suggestions actually result in real action were the three key conclusions reached in the Engaging Citizens, Shaping Europe public discussion held at Valletta Design Cluster and online.

Cutajar, however, expressed concern that to date the number of users of the digital platform has not reached the desired levels, in particular amongst women who traditionally still feature less in consultative exercises.

Cutajar outlined the rationale behind the Conference on the Future of Europe, which she termed an experiment that could be the means to address the criticism thrown at the EU: “As with any experiment, information is key. So it must be clear to all what we are trying to achieve and what we are trying to demonstrate.”

The bottom-up approach is important, Cutajar explained, and equally important is for the EU institutions to make sure that what has been heard from citizens is then acted upon one way or another

Future Planners - an Erasmus project that focuses on achieving a more human-centred urban development - showcased as an illustration of the difference people can make.

Future Planners’ leader,  Maud Gari, gave the project’s back story, having originated from her consortium’s experience in dealing with the creative industry and spotlighting the importance of empowerment, amongst other priorities.

Atoine Gambin from VisMedNet, the Maltese partners in the project, focused on Future Planners’  objectives in particular in relation to the education of young architects and budding politicians, as well as the community at large, on how consultation should take place: “The reality of non-community consultation is what we need to break down into small steps, but many and rapid ones.”

 This was supported by Rafael Pascual Leone, from VisMedNet and an architect involved in the design of the Valletta Design Cluster. The Cluster project, he said, is a dialogue with the community to find a way of restoring not just the built fabric but also the relevance of the place. For this to be achieved, it is necessary to engage communities, he stressed.

 The second part of the event focused on the Right2Water, a European Citizens’ Initiative that successfully impacted the new EU Water Directive. Pablo Sanchez Centellas reflected on the ECI process and lessons learnt that could be applied in the Conference of the Future of Europe. The whole process for the Right to Water ECI had started in 2010 in the context of a global debate on the right to water, gathering over 1 million signatures and gaining a reference in the new EU Directive. However, the real essence of what the ECI had campaigned for - essentially for the UN Resolution on the Right to Water to be transposed into EU law - was ignored, Mr Sanchez Centellas noted, warning that this is the kind of pitfall that the CFOE must seek to avoid.

“When citizens get organised to have an impact, what they need is the certainty that what they are doing will actually have an impact,” he emphasised.

Discussants concluded that the lack of democracy and the top-down approach in general is still disheartening, but it was still easier to push for demands at the European level than the local.

“What the EU looks like today and what the EU will look like tomorrow is the result of, and will be the result of, the extent to which citizens from all over Europe engage with it and give their input on shaping it,” said Ms Elaine Cordina, from the European Parliament Office in Malta, co-organiser of the event.

Have your say on: https://futureu.europa.eu/?locale=en

Future Planners: http://youngfutureplanners.internprize.eu/Summary

Right2Water: https://www.right2water.eu/