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74 cities have already signed the Declaration on citizens engagement

25 March 2019

74 cities have already adopted the EUROCITIES Declaration on citizens’ engagement

On 29 November 2018, the mayors of Edinburgh, Ghent and Stockholm were the first to sign EUROCITIES Declaration on Citizens’ Engagement, pledging to:

  • involve citizens in a dialogue about our common future
  • inspire all levels of government to create societies where people come first
  • impact the way decisions are taken in Europe

Since then, 74 cities have adopted the Declaration, showing their commitment to create a Europe where people come first.

As the closest level of government to citizens, cities are crucial in shaping the future of Europe. Earlier this year, more than 90 cities had organised 300 local initiatives under the framework of EUROCITIES ‘‘Cities4Europe – Europe for citizens’ campaign.

Cities have been experimenting and innovating with new forms of participatory democracy, to support traditional representative democracy. This is central to successfully respond to pressing public concerns such as climate change, social cohesion, housing and employment.

Cities4Europe successfully highlighted positive examples of citizen engagement around Europe, and set examples for other cities and levels of government.

Following the success of our campaign, EUROCITIES is keeping the dialogue on the future of Europe going by organising citizen consultations in 20 of our member cities. Residents in the participating cities will debate different subjects and come up with three recommendations to build a better Europe.

The results of the Cities4Europe campaign and of the citizens panels initiative have been presented at the second mayors summit on 20-21 March 2019 in Brussels. You can find more information on the summit here.

During its second mayors summit EUROCITIES launched our political manifesto ‘The city leaders’ agenda for the EU’ ahead of the European elections and presented the results of our cities’ work in bridging the gap between Europe and its citizens.

Mayors and city leaders from across Europe are committed to being strategic partners to the EU institutions and working towards a more positive future for Europe and its people.

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