A round table on “Boosting democracy by engaging all citizens”, held in Strasbourg on 13 September 2024, focused on the challenges faced by democratic societies such as a crisis of trust in representative democracy, a low level of engagement by young people and low rates of women’s participation in politics, and overall disconnect between local and regional authorities and their citizens.
One of the panelists, member of the Greek Parliament Eirini Dourou, stressed that continuous sexism, violence, stereotypes and other adverse attitudes towards women in politics prevented them from political engagement and standing as candidates in elections. Member of the Norther Ireland Assembly (UK) Stewart Dickson highlighted the need to restore public confidence in the electoral process while Congress Youth Delegate from Finland Maria Markkula underlined the need for fostering social inclusion and participatory democracy by ensuring fair representation. Head of the Council of Europe’s Youth Department Tobias Flessenkemper presented the current work aimed at promoting young people’s involvement in public life.
The participants recommended developing programmes for civic education and active citizen participation at local level and taking strong positions against sexist attitudes in local politics, including via social media, as well as setting up effective complaint mechanisms and providing training to politicians and staff. Engaging in dialogue with young people on every opportunity and throughout political processes was also encouraged, as was developing guidance on youth participation for local and regional authorities. The participants also highlighted the importance of promoting deliberative democracy – such as citizens’ assemblies – and supporting exchanges of good practices, public campaigns and capacity building – both on civic education and young people’s participation – among local and regional authorities.
