Exhibition
The European Parliament is an important forum for civil society representation. Parliament has rapidly developed spaces for open dialogue with civil society organisations in order to tackle the democratic deficit in a Europe under construction.
In doing so, Parliament is helping to create a public space in Europe. Initially conceived as a way to inform MEPs about society’s needs and expectations, public hearings have also helped to improve their expertise. These hearings also contribute to the public debate as they provide a platform to representatives of civil society.
Over time, Parliament has developed other decentralised tools to enable it to communicate with civil society and social partners; for example, citizens’ forums, which help to foster interaction with national, regional and local authorities. Parliament later created a Citizens’ Agora to provide a place for consultation and dialogue between the various sections of organised civil society. By actively contributing to the work of the Convention on the Future of Europe in the early 2000s, when drawing up the text which would become the Lisbon Treaty, Parliament again took into account the positions expressed by civil society, including those of young people.
In 2021 and 2022, Parliament played a further leading role in this area when it hosted the plenary assemblies of the Conference on the Future of Europe in Strasbourg. In an unprecedented exercise of participatory democracy, all European citizens, civil society representatives and non-governmental organisations were given the opportunity to share their views on the EU’s priorities and the challenges it faces.
The European Parliament: 70 years of European democracy in action
Seventy years ago, the first session of the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community took place in Strasbourg, marking the starting point of the European Parliament we know today.