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Forum for the Future of Democracy The Forum was established by the Third Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe in Warsaw in May 2005. The aim of the Forum is to strengthen democracy, political freedoms and citizens’ participation through the exchange of ideas, information and examples of best practices. The proposals resulting from its discussions about possible future action contribute to enhancing the Council of Europe’s work in the field of democracy. The Forum is a flagship event in the Council of Europe’s calendar. It brings together some 400 participants from the 47 Council of Europe member States and observer States representing public authorities (national parliamentarians, local and regional elected representatives, government officials) and civil society (INGOs, Electoral Commissions etc.). In order to ensure transversality and maximum impact, the Forum process is governed by the Council of Europe’s quadripartite stakeholders made up of the Parliamentary Assembly, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, the Committee of Ministers and the Conference of International Non-Governmental Organisations. Other major stakeholders in the organisation of the 2009 Forum are the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission), representatives of the European Union and other international organisations and academia. The Forum structure is outlined in the Revised Guidelines of the Forum for the Future of Democracy as endorsed by the Ministers’ Deputies at their 1090th meeting of 7 July 2010.
The launch meeting was organised in Warsaw in November 2005 on the theme of “civic participation”, the second session in Moscow on 18-19 October 2006 on the theme “The role of political parties in the building of democracy”; the third session in Stockholm/Sigtuna (Sweden) from 13-15 June 2007 on the theme “Power and empowerment – the interdependence of democracy and human rights”. The fourth session of the Forum took place in Madrid (15-17 October 2008), on the theme « E-democracy », to discuss the potential of the new information technologies to strengthen democracy and increase participation.
More information on previous Forum sessions : - Warsaw Launch meeting 2005 - Press special file, Proceedings
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