Citizens building the future of Europe - 12WS21747

In the light of the current COVID-19 crisis, citizens and local and regional authorities across Europe are experiencing a time of change. Regions have proven to be best placed to cope with emergencies and involve citizens in cohesion projects. Accordingly, trust in regional governments has increased. The principle of subsidiarity is as important and vital as ever. However, there is still a need to acknowledge that multilevel governance is a necessary condition for open government. Citizens' dialogues play an essential role in this context.

The workshop provides the opportunity to brainstorm views and ideas on how to engage citizens in cohesion policy. As a platform for both regional authorities and cohesion fund beneficiaries, it will create space for an open discussion and the chance to share valuable experiences among regional representatives from Slovakia, Croatia, Italy, Spain and Austria. While reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic, the aim will be to draw up a set of recommendations for Europe's regions on the best way of delivering cohesion policy to address citizens' needs. Workshop participants will be able to interact with the speakers and moderator via the polling platform Sli.do and during the Q&A session.