In May 2014, in anticipation of the European Parliamentary elections, the citizens of Donostia- San Sebastian gathered in the San Telmo Museum to collectively debate and reflect on essential European issues with a diverse set of inter-disciplinary thinkers.
The following letter is a summary of the citizens’ reflections.
Donostia – San Sebastián, July 10, 2014
Dear elected representatives and policy makers:
In preparation for the European Parliamentary elections, the Globernance Institute of Democratic Governance, in collaboration with the San Telmo Museum and the European Law Students Association, coordinated a series of inter-disciplinary and participatory events: European Dialogues. Through reflection and debate, inter-generational and diverse participants were asked to consider: What is Europe? And what direction are we moving in?
Over the course of three weeks in May 2014, hundreds of people participated as we considered and reconsidered the construction, structure and expression in and of the European Union: near 250 people, half of who were under the age of 30, gathered in the Museum; near 100 connected nationally and internationally via live streaming; and a number followed the debate on Twitter (#GlobernanceEU). The speakers represented different disciplines and facets of thought: Juan José Álvarez Rubio, lawyer; Gabriel Ruiz Múgica, architect; Antonio Vitorino, former European Commissioner for Justice; Tere Irastortza, poet. At the close of each event, participants were asked to “VOTE YOUR IDEA” into an actual voting box. Through this method, we were able to gather a diverse set of ideas concerning the public’s thoughts, hopes and doubts of the European Union.
The purpose of this correspondence is to inform you of the constructive ideas and actionable inputs from the participants themselves. Accordingly, the hope is that such information may influence or even produce results at a policy level. We encourage you to seize this as an opportunity to open dialogue between an interested and participative citizenry and its elected leaders and policy makers.
The overwhelming response received from the participants was an honest appeal for more information concerning the European Union. In particular, more visibility and accessibility to information is requested concerning: the functioning of the European Union, how decisions are made at a European policy level and by whom, the benefits of EU membership for individual citizens and the nexus between European and national politics and decision-making. There was a pronounced request for greater dissemination of European news by national media (e.g. national broadcasts and coverage of EU sessions, meetings, policies and decisions). In the participants’ own words, there was an interest to “Europeanize” national politics as well as to identify and develop common (rather than national) interests. There was a pronounced interest in further debating the following issues: fiscal unity, federalism, European identity, multilingualism, lobbying, job creation and EU foreign policy.
For your consideration, attached you will find a complete record of the participants’ idea-votes. We look forward to hearing from you and finding out how we can further develop democratic solution creation.
Sincerely,