Final

The INCITE-DEM Policy Roadmap: Strengthening Participation, Societal Cohesion, and Environmental Sustainability in the European Union

Renewing European democracy requires a comprehensive strategy. This is urgent given the threats to European democracy: declining trust, rising populism, and deep polarization, compounded by the social and environmental sustainability crises. In fact, strengthening citizen participation requires more than just new tools; transformative change is needed within public administrations to ensure they become more open and responsive to citizen-led agendas. Drawing on evidence from the INCITE-DEM research project—which includes the organization of Democracy Labs, Case studies, Interactive Fora and Policy Sessions in 9 countries with over 500 European citizens, policymakers, and civil society organisations during three years, as well as findings from quantitative and qualitative research—this document outlines a policy roadmap built on four fundamental pillars. First, we must rebuild the foundations of citizen participation by making existing channels more transparent and impactful. Second, we need to move democratic innovations like citizens’assemblies from the margins to the mainstream of governance. Third, we must harness technology to bridge divides, not deepen them. Finally, we need targeted interventions to rebuild societal cohesion, promote trust and counter toxic polarisation. Together, these pillars and their recommendations provide a cohesive blueprint for a more responsive, legitimate and politically, environmentally, and socially resilient European democracy. Evidence from research suggests that strengthening these core pillars enables democratic innovations to offer high-value strategic inputs to governance, facilitating the implementation of sustainability policies. It allows public authorities to identify and address tensions and conflicts early, thereby reducing the likelihood of social or institutional resistance to urgently needed sustainability-oriented transformations.

Build an inclusive digital democracy

Rebuild trust in a polarised world

Strengthening the foundations of citizen participation

Mainstreaming democratic innovation

Rebuild trust in a polarised world

Strengthening the foundations of citizen participation

Mainstreaming democratic innovation

Build an inclusive digital democracy

Our findings underline that established channels for citizen participation, like public consultations, often fall short of their promise. Citizens invest time and energy but see little impact, as their input is often requested too late, is hard to track, and is overshadowed by organised interests, eroding public trust. To fix this, we must build a responsive and genuinely inclusive participatory system. The core strategy is to move beyond simply inviting people to participate and instead build a structured infrastructure of active support. It means proactively removing barriers by providing citizens with the time, resources, and skills to engage; notably, project surveys indicate that respondents prefer participation to be compensated, favoring a moderate level—such as the minimum salary—to ensure it is accessible without being excessive. Furthermore, it requires redesigning processes to be transparent from start to finish; and creating a coherent, EU-wide strategy that ensures participation is a meaningful part of policymaking, not an afterthought.

Project research shows that political trust has not suffered a decline over the last two decades. Instead, we face a growing gap where specific groups feel deeply dissatisfied and increasingly distrustful towards political actors and institutions, while others remain content. Rebuilding the connective tissue of society requires getting these distrusting groups back to the democratic table. It is important to recognize that building new community networks alone cannot eliminate polarization if the root causes—such as poverty, systemic inequality, and social exclusion—remain unaddressed. Yet, these networks do play an essential role. Societal cohesion requires a dual approach: while we must advocate for structural reforms to tackle these fundamental injustices, we also need intentional, evidence-based interventions to bridge immediate divides. This means fostering deliberation, exchange, social learning, and trust through community networks.

Project research confirms that the promise of e-participation remains unfulfilled due to deep-seated structural barriers. Specifically, persistent digital divides in skills and confidence reinforce existing inequalities. A crisis of trust, fueled by data privacy concerns and superficial "democracy washing," discourages engagement. To counter this, we need a human-centred approach, using technology that is intentionally designed to support democratic goals. This means treating digital inclusion as a foundational right, prioritising hybrid models that blend online and offline engagement, actively fostering a healthy and deliberative online public sphere, and building a sustainable and trustworthy civic tech ecosystem.

Promising democratic innovations like citizens' assemblies often remain one-off, marginalised experiments. Project evidence confirms that these initiatives currently exist within a fragile ecosystem, lacking the permanent institutional structures to achieve systemic change. To fulfil their promise, we must establish permanent and well-supported systems for citizen engagement. This is supported by data from INCITE-DEM’s large-scale survey conducted in seven European member states. Responses of more than 14,000 European citizens showed that the public has a clear preference for a wide range of innovative participatory forms of direct citizen involvement and systematically favours participatory procedures over merely representative ones. Even though the public demands arithmetical equality in voting—firmly upholding the "one person, one vote" principle—they are notably supportive of corrective deliberation that grants a greater voice to those most impacted during the discussion phase. This requires a systemic shift away from ad-hoc projects towards the creation of empowered, local, and permanent bodies with real decision-making authority.

Foster a trustworthy and sustainable civic tech ecosystem

Ensure universal access to digital democracy

Invest in civic empowerment for a resilient democracy

Design and adopt an EU strategy for high-quality citizen participation

Invest in infrastructures for citizen participation

Strengthen societal cohesion through deliberative community networks

Prioritize proactive inclusion of underrepresented and most impacted communities

Formally integrate citizen deliberation into the policy cycle

Goal

Goal

Goal

Goal

Goal

To close the digital divide in civic life by treating digital access and literacy as an essential public service, ensuring every citizen has the skills, confidence, and tools to participate in an equitable, deliberative, and trustworthy digital democracy, whilst respecting the right to opt out in favour of analogue participation. To ensure digital democracy is truly representative, access strategies must be specifically adapted to the unique participatory needs of every stage from the policy cycle—from initial agenda-setting and formulation to decision-making, implementation, and evaluation.

To build a trustworthy and stable online public sphere by investing in the long-term health of the open-source civic technology ecosystem and fostering a culture that transforms citizen engagement from an occasional duty into a valued and recognised contribution to collective intelligence.

To transform public participation from a theoretical right into a practical reality for all citizens by establishing a well-resourced, permanent infrastructure that removes structural barriers and encourages engagement. This is essential to actively compensate for the common bias where participation favours those with more time and resources, ensuring that a diverse range of lived experiences shape public decisions.

To build a resilient democratic culture by proactively empowering all citizens with the practical skills and confidence required to resist misinformation and disinformation, engage constructively across divides, and participate meaningfully throughout their lives and from early on. This involves shifting from ad-hoc initiatives to a systemic model of continuous, practical civic capacity building that is adjusted to sociocultural contexts and embedded in community life and formal education, where people already are: schools, libraries, workplaces, and community hubs.

To create a coherent European participation strategy that transforms the current landscape of disconnected tools into a mutually reinforcing ecosystem. The strategy prioritises high-relevance sectors, specifically targeting environmental and climate policy as a pilot for broader implementation. The strategy's aim is to proactively use the full range of the EU's policy tools—including targeted legislation, funding conditionality, and compliance-driven sanctions to formal recommendations—to establish and promote harmonised, transparent, and impactful standards for citizen engagement across the Union.

Goal

To enable exchange and social learning across different societal groups and communities, re-engage disconnected and/or dissatisfied groups, counter pernicious polarisation, and rebuild social trust by creating funded, permanent spaces for structured dialogue on shared local challenges.

Concrete actions

Goal

Goal

Concrete actions

Mandate ethical, transparent, and sustainable digital standards

Embed civic tech in social infrastructure through co-creation

Establish sustainable funding for the digital commons

Concrete actions

To embed citizen engagement as a standard stage of governance by formally integrating advisory bodies at the national and EU levels while empowering local communities with binding co-decision authority. This strategy transforms public input from a political gesture into a required component of decision-making, designed to complement and strengthen representative democracy.

To shift from generic participation models towards an approach focused on fairness and inclusion, where public authorities create specific procedures and support systems to guarantee the meaningful participation of historically underrepresented communities.

Concrete actions

Launch a network of local participation hubs

Institutionalise a universal "Support infrastructure" for participation

Establish stable, long-term funding for civic participation

Launch national digital literacy and access campaigns

Develop a unified and trustworthy digital gateway for participation

Prioritise hybrid participation as the default standard across the policy cycle

Concrete actions

Concrete actions

Launch and scale up landmark initiatives for experiential civic learning like

Establish a European framework for civic learning

Mainstream funding for system-wide capacity building

Promote and professionalise community facilitation

Establish permanent cross-community deliberative networks

Create a coherent and integrated legislative framework for Citizen Participation ("Hard Power")

Promote adoption of participatory policies through "soft power" and institutional leadership

Lead by example with EU-level reforms

Concrete actions

Prioritise environmental sustainability

Concrete actions

Responsible Actors

Encourage and promote pre-consultation "inclusion assessments" and outreach lotteries

Develop and support targeted, co-designed procedures through trusted networks

Support research on the structural barriers to participation for underrepresented communities

Responsible Actors

Launch pilot initiatives for binding participation

Establish an enabling legal framework to support co-decision

Establish permanent thematic citizen panels at the national and EU level

European Commission and National Governments, Civic Tech Organizations, Philanthropic Foundations, Local Authorities, Universities and CSOs.

Responsible Actors

Responsible Actors

European Commission, National Governments, Local Governments (municipalities, libraries), Civil Society Organisations.

Strengthen existing community anchors as hubs for dialogue

Promote platforms designed for constructive dialogue

National Governments, Local Governments, European Commission, Civil Society Organisations, Civic Tech Providers.

Responsible Actors

European Commission (DG EAC, DG JUST), National Governments (especially Education Ministries), Local Governments, Educational Institutions and Civil Society Organisations.

Time Frame

Time Frame

European Commission, European Parliament and Council, Member States.

Responsible Actors

Responsible Actors

Time Frame

Time Frame

Medium term

Time Frame

Public Administrations, National Governments, EU Institutions, Local & Regional Governments, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) representing underrepresented groups.

National Governments (Parliaments and Ministries of Justice), EU Institutions (Commission, Parliament), Local & Regional Governments, Public Administrations.

Long term

Medium term

Long term

Responsible Actors

Time Frame

Long term

Short term

Long term

Local Governments, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), National Governments, European Commission.

Short term

Medium term

Time Frame

Evaluate pilots and begin scaling up the successful models, supported by the established national funds and a growing network of trained facilitators.

Long term

Institutionalize foundational civic technology as essential public infrastructure supported by permanent national and EU structural funds. Implement a digital system for formal recognition and compensation for citizens' contributions to collective intelligence.

Deploy national digital and AI literacy campaigns. Launch pilot versions of the Participation Navigation App and staff the first physical Digital Democracy Hubs.

Medium term

Short term

Short term

Short term

Finalize the universal support infrastructure across the Union, ensuring that participatory mechanisms are a standard, legally recognized component of the policy cycle at all levels of government.

Operate a fully functional Participation Navigation App, built upon existing systems where available. Ensure hybrid participation is legally established as the default standard across all phases of the policy cycle.

Medium term

Time Frame

Establish multi-year operational grants and map existing open-source solutions to avoid infrastructure duplication. Simultaneously, mandate co-creation and green coding standards in all public funding calls to ensure ethical development.

Long term

European Commission proposes a framework and co-financing mechanism. Launch pilot programs for the 'Neighbourhood House' model and the 'Democracy Allowance', testing eligibility criteria.

Long term

Fully institutionalize the Democracy Lab network and ensure specialized participatory units are permanent fixtures in public administrations.

Scale up successful pilots and integrate long-term funding for the digital commons into standard budgetary cycles. Launch public-philanthropic partnerships to seed innovative tools with clear pathways for future public oversight.

Systematically include the essential participation standards in all new legislative proposals and strengthen participation conditionality in the next generation of EU funding programs.

Medium term

Roll out the European Framework for Lifelong Civic Learning. Formally integrate civic capacity building as a priority in the next cycle of relevant EU funding instruments.

Short term

Launch pilot programs for "Democracy Laboratories". Develop and test the "Democracy Welcome Kit" with new voter cohorts. Begin integrating critical skills modules into national curricula.

Conduct a review of libraries and other public infrastructure to assess their readiness to serve as integrated 'Neighbourhood Houses' and 'Digital Democracy Hubs'. Initiate co-design workshops with citizens and civic tech providers to define the requirements for the Participation Navigation App.

Short term

Medium term

The European Commission launches a campaign to promote the uptake of Recommendation (EU) 2023/2836, revises its internal "Better Regulation" guidelines, and proposes a reform package for the ECI.

Medium term

Begin the systematic review and legislative process to amend key existing sectoral directives to integrate the new standards. Commence the legislative process to amend key environmental directives (e.g., 2003/35/EC), integrating mandatory feedback reports, compliance-driven sanctions, and tailored engagement timelines

Long term

Institutionalize "Inclusion Assessments" as a mandatory legal requirement for all major public consultations.

Begin a scaled-up rollout of successful co-decision models across the Union, supported by finalized national legal frameworks.

Establish permanent local deliberative networks across a critical mass of cities, supported by certified facilitators and professionalized community facilitation standards. Integrate these networks into existing community anchors like cultural centers and sports clubs.

Launch dedicated funding calls for systematic research on participation barriers. Concurrently, initiate pilot programs for "Inclusion Assessments” and "Outreach Lotteries".

Short term

Launch the first thematic citizen panels at national and EU levels while beginning legal reviews to identify necessary amendments for both advisory and binding models. Simultaneously, launch the first cohort of pilot initiatives for binding co-decision in committed municipalities to build early practical evidence.

Scale up successful procedures across all levels of public administration. Create a publicly accessible "Library of Best Practices" with templates for targeted engagement.

Enact legal amendments mandating citizen consultation for long-term strategies, such as the National Energy and Climate Plans (NECP) under the Governance Regulation (EU) 2018/1999. Pilot municipalities will implement and evaluate their models, generating the evidence required for broader legal recognition and scaling up participatory budgeting.

Perform a comprehensive evaluation of the networks' impact on depolarisation and, where successful results are demonstrated, ensure they receive stable, multi-annual funding.

Launch pilot programs for certified facilitator training and initiate funding calls for projects requiring cross-group collaboration. Support digital tools specifically engineered for constructive dialogue and mutual understanding.

Text by Francesc Cots, Jeremie Fosse, Vanessa Buth, Doris Fuchs and Inês Campos based on the research outcomes of the INCITE DEM project. Visualisation by Kärol-Milaine Puunurm

Launch a network of local participation hubs by enhancing existing assets

Use the dedicated funds to upgrade existing public spaces (e.g., libraries, schools, community centers) to function as 'Neighbourhood Houses'. To be successful, these hubs must:

• Have a clear legal mandate and formal links to municipal governance to ensure their work is impactful and not merely symbolic.
• Be staffed by trained, professional facilitators to manage dialogue, prevent capture by vocal interest groups, and actively reach out to underrepresented communities.
• Be empowered with their own small, pre-approved budgets to implement quick, visible community projects decided by residents (such as improving a local park). This allows citizens to see the direct impact of their participation, building trust and momentum.

Mainstream funding for system-wide capacity building

Prioritise and earmark funding within EU programmes (e.g., ESF+, CERV, Erasmus+) to provide structural technical assistance for building the capacity of the democratic ecosystem. This includes:

• Empowering public administrations to create dedicated, cross-departmental units with in-house expertise in designing and facilitating high-quality, inclusive participatory processes. EU funds should act in this case as a catalyst for institutional reform, supporting the initial design and specialized training.
• Strengthening civil society organisations (CSOs) to act as essential bridges between citizens and state institutions, equipping them to mobilise diverse communities and co-create solutions. Support financially a pool of trainers, in collaboration with civil society, to deliver training that is free or incentivised, specifically reaching marginalised communities beyond already active groups.

Mandate ethical, transparent, and sustainable digital standards

All funded civic tech must follow high ethical standards and green coding principles to minimize its ecological footprint. This includes regular algorithm audits to ensure the logic behind digital tools is open for public review and free from bias. Strict data ethics are required to protect user privacy and guarantee that personal information is never shared or used without explicit consent. Ultimately, these tools must be designed for neutrality and transparency, supporting fair debate and collective intelligence

An EU strategy for high-quality public participation

Goal

To create a coherent European Participation Strategy that transforms the current landscape of disconnected tools into a mutually reinforcing ecosystem. The strategy's aim is to proactively use the full range of the EU's policy tools—including targeted legislation, funding conditionality, and formal recommendations—to establish and promote harmonized, transparent, and impactful standards for citizen engagement across the Union.

Concrete actions

Lead by example with EU-level reforms

Promote adoption through "Soft Power" and institutional leadership

Create a coherent and integrated legislative framework "Hard Power"

Responsible Actors

European Commission, European Parliament and Council, Member States.

Time Frame

Phase 2

Ongoing

2-5 years

Phase 1

Begin the systematic review and legislative process to amend key existing sectoral directives to integrate the new standards.

Systematically include the essential participation standards in all new legislative proposals and strengthen participation conditionality in the next generation of EU funding programs.

1-2 years

The European Commission launches a campaign to promote the uptake of Recommendation (EU) 2023/2836, revises its internal "Better Regulation" guidelines, and proposes a reform package for the ECI.

Launch and scale up landmark initiatives for experiential civic learning like

1.

The democracy laboratories: Foster a European network of "Democracy Laboratories" hosted in accessible public spaces such as libraries and schools. These labs will serve as hubs for playful, experiential learning where citizens of all ages can practice democratic skills and engage with local political challenges through facilitated games and workshops. The 'Democracy welcome kit': Establish a "Democracy Welcome Kit" for all new voters (upon reaching voting age or earlier). This physical and digital toolkit will transform civic entry from a formality into a meaningful invitation, providing an accessible guide to civil rights, a directory of local participation opportunities beyond voting, and secure access to digital engagement platforms. To avoid information overload, the kit could use clear and visual "participation maps" (similar to a store path) to guide citizens through the democratic process.

2.

Promote platforms designed for constructive dialogue

The architecture of many digital platforms, particularly social media, is designed for virality and can foster polarisation rather than consensus. Public authorities must actively counteract this by prioritising funding and public procurement for technologies that are explicitly engineered for constructive debate and mutual understanding. This includes supporting the development and adoption of deliberative tools like Decidim or the Incite-dem Dialogue Tool, which help participants find common ground and explore the consequences of policy choices, rather than simply amplifying conflict.

Establish stable, long-term funding for participation

Mandate the creation/adaptation of national and local funds, co-financed by the EU, to provide a stable and predictable financial basis for democratic infrastructure, safeguarding it from short-term political cycles.

Establish a European framework for lifelong civic learning

Develop EU-level guidelines that encourage Member States to integrate core democratic competencies into all levels of education and professional development. This framework must prioritize critical skills for a polarized age, such as media literacy, recognizing disinformation, constructive argumentation, perspective-taking, and digital safety, to equip citizens to navigate complex debates and build resilience against deceptive or polarizing content.

Establish a European framework for civic learning

Develop EU-level guidelines that encourage Member States to integrate core democratic competencies into all levels of education and professional development. This framework must prioritise critical skills for a polarised age, such as media literacy, recognising disinformation, constructive argumentation, perspective-taking, and digital safety, to equip citizens to navigate complex debates and build resilience against deceptive or polarising content. Create separate outreach formats for youth, first-time voters, and disengaged adults.

An EU strategy for high-quality public participation

Goal

To create a coherent European Participation Strategy that transforms the current landscape of disconnected tools into a mutually reinforcing ecosystem. The strategy's aim is to proactively use the full range of the EU's policy tools—including targeted legislation, funding conditionality, and formal recommendations—to establish and promote harmonized, transparent, and impactful standards for citizen engagement across the Union.

Concrete actions

Lead by example with EU-level reforms

Promote adoption through "Soft Power" and institutional leadership

Create a coherent and integrated legislative framework "Hard Power"

Responsible Actors

European Commission, European Parliament and Council, Member States.

Time Frame

Phase 2

Ongoing

2-5 years

Phase 1

Begin the systematic review and legislative process to amend key existing sectoral directives to integrate the new standards.

Systematically include the essential participation standards in all new legislative proposals and strengthen participation conditionality in the next generation of EU funding programs.

1-2 years

The European Commission launches a campaign to promote the uptake of Recommendation (EU) 2023/2836, revises its internal "Better Regulation" guidelines, and proposes a reform package for the ECI.

Create a coherent and integrated legislative framework "Hard Power"

1.

Strengthen standards for Member States through sectoral legislation: the EU should systematicallyembed a core set of essential participation standards into all new and revised legislation where a legalbasis exists. These standards must include:

• Early engagement: Shifting the default for public consultation to the pre-formulation(agenda-setting) stage of the policy cycle.
• Clarity and standardized timelines: Mandating that all consultation documents are published inclear, accessible language and with sufficient, standardized advance notice to allow formeaningful input.
• Centralized digital access: Requiring the use of accessible, centralized online platforms topublicize all consultation opportunities, timelines, and related documents.

Reinforce existing legislation with a "Right to a response": Amend sectoral directives—for instance,Directive 2003/35/EC concerning public participation in environmental plans—to require Member Stateauthorities to produce a legally mandatory public feedback report following their consultations. This reportmust summarize the main themes of public input, clearly explain which key citizen proposals andconcerns were adopted, and provide specific, robust justifications for why other significant proposals werenot taken on board.

2.

Create a coherent and integrated legislative framework for Citizen Participation ("Hard Power")

1.

Strengthen common standards through sectoral legislation: the EU should integrate a core set of essential participation standards into all new and revised legislation where a legal basis exists, addressing initially directives and regulations related to the European Green Deal and environmental protection. This sectoral pilot allows for the nuanced application of standards before EU-wide expansion. These standards, which would establish clear penalties and administrative sanctions for Member State authorities that ignore or fail to meet them, must include:

• Early engagement: Shifting the default for public consultation to the pre-formulation (agenda-setting) stage of the policy cycle.
• Clarity and standardised timelines: Mandating that all consultation documents are published in clear, accessible language with timelines tailored to the specific goals, target groups, and levels of governance involved, and with sufficient advance notice to allow for meaningful input.
• Centralised digital access: Requiring the use of accessible, centralised online platforms to publicise all consultation opportunities, timelines, and related documents.

Reinforce existing legislation with a "Right to a response": Amend sectoral directives to require Member State authorities to produce a legally mandatory public feedback report following their consultations. This report must summarise the main themes of public input, clearly explain which key citizen proposals and concerns were adopted, and provide specific, robust justifications for why other significant proposals were not taken on board.

2.

Launch a network of local participation hubs by enhancing existing assets

Use the dedicated funds to upgrade existing public spaces (e.g., libraries, schools, community centers) to function as 'Neighbourhood Houses'. To be successful, these hubs must:

• Have a clear legal mandate and formal links to municipal governance to ensure their work is impactful and not merely symbolic.
• Be staffed by trained, professional facilitators to manage dialogue, prevent capture by vocal interest groups, and actively reach out to underrepresented communities.
• Be empowered with their own small, pre-approved budgets to implement quick, visible community projects decided by residents (such as improving a local park). This allows citizens to see the direct impact of their participation, building trust and momentum.

Establish permanent cross-community deliberative networks

To directly combat the formation of echo chambers, public authorities should fund and legally support the creation of permanent local deliberative networks, with the explicit goal of bridging socio-economic, cultural, and political divides. By intentionally bringing together community networks that do not normally interact, these spaces can forge new social ties, break down "us versus them" mentalities, and build the mutual understanding necessary to tackle shared problems.

Lead by example with EU-level reforms

1.

Simplify and strengthen the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI): Review and reform the ECI process to lower the administrative burden and create a stronger, more transparent follow-up for successful initiatives. Ensure the highest standards in EU consultations: The European Commission should consider reforms to its own internal guidelines to ensure its public consultations consistently meet the highest standards of transparency, accessibility, and responsiveness. Ensure political follow-up: The European Parliament should establish a formal mechanism to publicly debate and respond to the outcomes of major citizen engagement initiatives.

2.

3.

Promote and professionalise community facilitation

High-quality deliberation does not happen automatically, especially in polarised environments; it requires expert guidance. National and EU funds (such as the ESF+ and CERV programmes) should be used to promote the professionalisation of community facilitation by establishing a certified network. This network would provide training in advanced skills essential for a polarised age, including conflict mediation, depolarisation techniques, and facilitating dialogue between groups with entrenched, conflicting perspectives. Their expertise is critical for ensuring that deliberative spaces become forums for mutual understanding rather than just another arena for political conflict.

Develop and support targeted, co-designed procedures through trusted networks

Based on the Inclusion Assessment, implement and fund specific participatory formats tailored to the needs of key underrepresented groups. Adapt formats to the sociocultural characteristics of each group by engaging trusted community figures (leaders, elders, intermediaries) and using context-specific pathways such as schools, cultural associations, and neighbourhood houses. The format should directly relate to the policy area, and some examples could include participatory deliberative panels, co-design workshops, or multilingual Residents’ Forums.

Strengthen existing community anchors as hubs for dialogue

Provide targeted funding to existing local associations, such as sports clubs, cultural centres, and neighbourhood groups, to host facilitated events focused on the "local commons". To ensure these events effectively bridge divides, funding should be conditional on meeting specific requirements, such as mandatory cross-group collaboration and demonstrable outreach to specific, diverse demographics beyond the organisation's usual members. To succeed, these hubs must address the emotional drivers of polarisation, such as fear and anger, which often push citizens toward extreme narratives, while fostering psychological safety by framing deliberation as a tool for community well-being and by establishing connecting narratives that build mutual trust. This involves using clear dialogue rules—like mutual respect and active listening—and providing shared expert context.

Promote adoption of participatory policies through "soft power" and institutional leadership

1.

Support funding conditionality: link the disbursement of certain EU funds to the fulfilment of high-quality public participation requirements by Member States. Establish EU recommendations: Continue to establish and promote policy recommendations, in line of Recommendation (EU) 2023/2836, to serve as a "soft power" tool encouraging Member States to increase the ambition of their national consultation processes.

2.

An EU strategy for high-quality public participation

Goal

To create a coherent European Participation Strategy that transforms the current landscape of disconnected tools into a mutually reinforcing ecosystem. The strategy's aim is to proactively use the full range of the EU's policy tools—including targeted legislation, funding conditionality, and formal recommendations—to establish and promote harmonized, transparent, and impactful standards for citizen engagement across the Union.

Concrete actions

Lead by example with EU-level reforms

Promote adoption through "Soft Power" and institutional leadership

Create a coherent and integrated legislative framework "Hard Power"

Responsible Actors

European Commission, European Parliament and Council, Member States.

Time Frame

Phase 2

Ongoing

2-5 years

Phase 1

Begin the systematic review and legislative process to amend key existing sectoral directives to integrate the new standards.

Systematically include the essential participation standards in all new legislative proposals and strengthen participation conditionality in the next generation of EU funding programs.

1-2 years

The European Commission launches a campaign to promote the uptake of Recommendation (EU) 2023/2836, revises its internal "Better Regulation" guidelines, and proposes a reform package for the ECI.

Institutionalise a universal "Support infrastructure" for participation

Embed a comprehensive support package as a standard, essential, and fully funded component of major participation formats. It includes practical support to remove barriers, such as free and professional childcare, professional translation and interpretation services, hybrid (online and in-person) participation options, and physical and digital accessibility for persons with disabilities. It should also introduce mechanisms to compensate citizens for their time being active in political participation.The 'Democracy Allowance': This initiative introduces paid civic leave dedicated to political participation and community engagement in order to lower financial barriers for participation, whilst broadening the spectrum of engagement opportunities in long-term projects. The frequency and extent of this leave are to be determined by specific national circumstances. To ensure broad accessibility, the program explores publicly-led funding models to minimise impact on employers. Furthermore, it incorporates standardised compensation mechanisms to decouple participation from existing salary levels.

An EU strategy for high-quality public participation

Goal

To create a coherent European Participation Strategy that transforms the current landscape of disconnected tools into a mutually reinforcing ecosystem. The strategy's aim is to proactively use the full range of the EU's policy tools—including targeted legislation, funding conditionality, and formal recommendations—to establish and promote harmonized, transparent, and impactful standards for citizen engagement across the Union.

Concrete actions

Lead by example with EU-level reforms

Promote adoption through "Soft Power" and institutional leadership

Create a coherent and integrated legislative framework "Hard Power"

Responsible Actors

European Commission, European Parliament and Council, Member States.

Time Frame

Phase 2

Ongoing

2-5 years

Phase 1

Begin the systematic review and legislative process to amend key existing sectoral directives to integrate the new standards.

Systematically include the essential participation standards in all new legislative proposals and strengthen participation conditionality in the next generation of EU funding programs.

1-2 years

The European Commission launches a campaign to promote the uptake of Recommendation (EU) 2023/2836, revises its internal "Better Regulation" guidelines, and proposes a reform package for the ECI.

Prioritise environmental sustainability

The development and maintenance of digital tools must follow green coding standards and efficiency principles to minimise the ecological footprint of digital democracy. Beyond technical efficiency, public authorities should prioritise the deployment of civic tech specifically designed to address the sustainability crisis, such as platforms for local circular economy management.

Mandate a universal support infrastructure for genuine inclusivity

Ensure that all publicly funded participatory initiatives move beyond theoretical accessibility to remove practical barriers. This requires institutionalizing support services as a core public service, including free childcare, translation services, transportation stipends, and compensation for lost work hours. These measures are critical for enabling the participation of women, caregivers, youth, the elderly, and citizens from lower-income backgrounds.

An EU strategy for high-quality public participation

Goal

To create a coherent European Participation Strategy that transforms the current landscape of disconnected tools into a mutually reinforcing ecosystem. The strategy's aim is to proactively use the full range of the EU's policy tools—including targeted legislation, funding conditionality, and formal recommendations—to establish and promote harmonized, transparent, and impactful standards for citizen engagement across the Union.

Concrete actions

Lead by example with EU-level reforms

Promote adoption through "Soft Power" and institutional leadership

Create a coherent and integrated legislative framework "Hard Power"

Responsible Actors

European Commission, European Parliament and Council, Member States.

Time Frame

Phase 2

Ongoing

2-5 years

Phase 1

Begin the systematic review and legislative process to amend key existing sectoral directives to integrate the new standards.

Systematically include the essential participation standards in all new legislative proposals and strengthen participation conditionality in the next generation of EU funding programs.

1-2 years

The European Commission launches a campaign to promote the uptake of Recommendation (EU) 2023/2836, revises its internal "Better Regulation" guidelines, and proposes a reform package for the ECI.

Lead by example with EU-level reforms

1.

Simplify and strengthen the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI): Review and reform the ECI process to lower the administrative burden and create a stronger, more transparent follow-up for successful initiatives. Ensure the highest standards in EU consultations: The European Commission should build on its current progress by continuing to refine internal guidelines, ensuring that public consultations remain at the forefront of international standards for transparency, accessibility, and responsiveness. Ensure political follow-up: Establish a formal mechanism to publicly debate and respond to the outcomes of major citizen engagement initiatives.

2.

3.

Support research on the structural barriers to participation for underrepresented communities

The EU and national funding organizations should be encouraged to offer dedicated funding for systematic research analysing why marginalized groups—who according to the Incite-Dem outcomes’ often express the strongest desire for more participatory formats—frequently remain absent from democratic innovations or public participation in general, and on strategies and methods for effectively addressing this problem. This work should move beyond anecdotal evidence to identify concrete procedural measures and institutional remedies to reduce non-participation.

Embed civic tech in social infrastructure through co-creation

Rather than building isolated digital systems, civic technology should be embedded within existing associations, community groups, and local collectives. To prevent exclusion, public funding must require co-creation partnerships between administrations, civic technologists, CSOs, and universities. This ensures that tools are not just secure and transparent, but genuinely user-centered and adapted to a community's specific culture and needs. To foster a culture where this engagement is truly valued, public authorities should also explore digital systems that formally acknowledge citizens' time and effort through both public recognition and financial compensation.

Mainstream funding for system-wide capacity building

Prioritize and earmark funding within EU programmes (e.g., ESF+, CERV, Erasmus+) for building the capacity of the entire democratic ecosystem. This includes:

• Empowering public administrations to create dedicated, cross-departmental units with in-house expertise in designing and facilitating high-quality, inclusive participatory processes.
• Strengthening civil society organisations (CSOs) to act as essential bridges between citizens and state institutions, equipping them to mobilize diverse communities and co-create solutions.

Promote adoption through "soft power" and institutional leadership

1.

Explore funding conditionality: Investigate linking the disbursement of certain EU funds to the fulfillment of high-quality public participation requirements by Member States.Establish EU recommendations: Continue to establish and promote recommendations, in the line of Recommendation (EU) 2023/2836, to serve as a "soft power" tool encouraging Member States to increase the ambition of their national consultation processes.

2.

Launch a network of local participation hubs

upgrade existing public spaces (e.g., libraries, schools, community centres) to function as 'Neighbourhood Houses', partnering with and building upon existing local associations and community spaces that perform similar or complementary work. To be successful, these hubs must: Have a clear legal mandate and formal links to municipal governance, prioritising a direct influence on high-stakes local issues—such as urban development and climate resilience—to ensure their work is impactful and not merely symbolic. Be staffed by trained, professional facilitators to manage dialogue and mutual exchange with the government, prevent capture by vocal interest groups, and actively reach out to underrepresented communities. Be empowered with their own budgets to implement green community projects decided by residents (e.g., community gardens, local park restoration, or energy efficiency upgrades), allowing citizens to see the direct impact of their participation, building trust and momentum.

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2.

3.

Launch pilot initiatives for binding participation

The European Commission and national governments should support municipalities willing to experiment with co-decision on tangible local issues (e.g., local budgets, land use, or neighbourhood climate resilience projects). Pilots should prioritise small-scale environments—like schools or specific neighbourhoods—to build confidence and test models like:

• Permanent local assemblies: Establishing hyper-local assemblies with binding decision-making power and direct control over public funds through participatory budgeting. To ensure inclusivity, members are selected randomly, and assembly locations should aim to be within a "15-minute" reach of participants' homes.
• The ‘Inclusive citizen consultation’: Allowing citizens to trigger a formal process via petition. Once reached, a diverse group of randomly selected citizens, experts, and officials is granted real decision-making power to shape binding policies, supported by modest public funding and expert assistance.

Launch national digital literacy and access campaigns

To overcome the persistent digital divide that excludes citizens based on socioeconomic factors like class, age, and education, public authorities must fund ambitious national programs on digital literacy. These campaigns should provide affordable internet access, devices, and training, with specific modules targeted at seniors and communities with lower digital adoption rates.

Encourage and promote pre-consultation "inclusion assessments" and outreach lotteries

Public administrations should be encouraged to conduct an "Inclusion Assessment" before designing any major public consultation. This process involves proactively identifying communities that are typically underrepresented as well as those most vulnerable to a given policy change. While these groups frequently overlap, they are not the same. In climate governance, for instance, assessments should prioritize social groups more vulnerable to climate impacts and those with less adaptive capacity. These assessments must map specific barriers to participation—such as lack of time, financial costs, language, caregiving responsibilities, or lack of trust—and design the process to ensure these groups can engage effectively. This includes integrating the universal support infrastructure described in Recommendation 1. Furthermore, public administrations should evaluate the use of outreach lottery systems or other proactive recruitment strategies specifically targeting underrepresented populations. Paying attention to the need to include particularly vulnerable as well as underrepresented groups in different policy fields would mean, for instance:

• Housing policy: specifically invite low-income residents, renters, and individuals experiencing housing insecurity and/or energy poverty
• Urban mobility and public transport: include persons with disabilities, the elderly, and individuals currently lacking access (due to lack of availability or affordability) to develop low-carbon, accessible transport.
• Social integration policy: invite representatives experiencing socio-economic precarity as well as members from migrant and refugee communities to provide direct input on welfare programs and local services.
• Long-term environmental or youth policies: specifically invite members of the young generation to contribute to solutions to .e.g., the climate and/or biodiversity crises.

Pilot a compensated civic leave program

Introduce mechanisms to compensate citizens for their time. This must be done with clear safeguards to ensure financial sustainability and prevent misuse.

Establish sustainable funding for the digital commons

A thriving digital democracy requires moving beyond the current landscape of promising but fragmented and under-supported projects. This requires a strategic shift from short-term, experimental grants to stable, long-term operational funding for open-source civic technologies, prioritising as much as possible the continuation of previous projects.This will strengthen Europe’s leadership in Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), ensuring our democratic digital infrastructure is transparent, independent, and a global standard for excellence. This can be achieved through a multi-source funding strategy:

• Earmark national budgets: Treat foundational civic technology as essential public infrastructure and allocate dedicated, multi-year funding for its maintenance and improvement.
• Leverage EU structural funds: Strategically use programs like the Cohesion Policy and the European Democracy Action Plan to create dedicated calls for proposals that support the scaling and long-term sustainability of proven open-source tools.
• Foster public-philanthropic partnerships: Encourage models where philanthropic foundations provide initial seed funding for innovative tools, provided they meet strict transparency and ethical standards. with a clear pathway for public authorities to take over long-term funding once the tools prove their value.

An EU strategy for high-quality public participation

Goal

To create a coherent European Participation Strategy that transforms the current landscape of disconnected tools into a mutually reinforcing ecosystem. The strategy's aim is to proactively use the full range of the EU's policy tools—including targeted legislation, funding conditionality, and formal recommendations—to establish and promote harmonized, transparent, and impactful standards for citizen engagement across the Union.

Concrete actions

Lead by example with EU-level reforms

Promote adoption through "Soft Power" and institutional leadership

Create a coherent and integrated legislative framework "Hard Power"

Responsible Actors

European Commission, European Parliament and Council, Member States.

Time Frame

Phase 2

Ongoing

2-5 years

Phase 1

Begin the systematic review and legislative process to amend key existing sectoral directives to integrate the new standards.

Systematically include the essential participation standards in all new legislative proposals and strengthen participation conditionality in the next generation of EU funding programs.

1-2 years

The European Commission launches a campaign to promote the uptake of Recommendation (EU) 2023/2836, revises its internal "Better Regulation" guidelines, and proposes a reform package for the ECI.

Prioritise hybrid participation as the default standard across the policy cycle

Digital participation should complement, rather than replace, in-person engagement. Therefore, all major public consultations must offer a hybrid model or both online and offline participation opportunities. These options should be tailored to the specific needs of different groups at every stage of the policy cycle —from the first idea to the final evaluation—to ensure no one is left out of the process. To guarantee access for all, the ‘Neighbourhood Houses’ (established in Recommendation 1) should be equipped to function as ‘Digital Democracy Hubs’. These hubs, located in accessible public spaces like libraries, will provide on-site kiosks, digital tools, and human assistance to bridge the gap for those without digital access or skills.

Establish stable, long-term funding for civic participation

Mandate the creation and adaptation of national and local funds, co-financed by the EU —building on and expanding the scope of existing initiatives like the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme—, to provide a stable and predictable financial basis for democratic infrastructure, safeguarding it from short-term political cycles. Maintaining a cutting-edge system requires increased investment in European research and capacity building. This involves supporting initiatives such as specialized institutional hubs and knowledge-sharing networks—exemplified by the Competence Centre on Participatory and Deliberative Democracy and its Community of Practice (CoP-Demos) —alongside targeted research calls.

Establish permanent thematic citizen panels at the national and EU level

Building on the precedent of the Conference on the Future of Europe, the EU and Member States should institutionalise permanent, rotating citizen panels aligned with key policy areas such as climate, digital transition, and social policy. To ensure formal integration, national governments must undertake legal amendments requiring that major legislative proposals be accompanied by advisory recommendations from the relevant citizen panel. This process must be governed by the Right to a Response (Recommendation 2), legally mandating legislative bodies to produce a public feedback report providing robust, transparent justifications for their decisions, specifying the conditions and criteria for the rejection or substantial revision of citizen recommendations. Participants should be selected through random sortition to ensure a representative sample of the population, reflecting diverse lived experiences and socio-economic backgrounds.

Develop a unified and trustworthy digital gateway for participation

To move beyond a fragmented landscape of tools, develop a single, interoperable "Participation Navigation App" that serves as the central gateway for all democratic activities, simplifying how citizens locate and engage in democratic activities in all phases of the policy cycle. This App should consolidate existing systems into an accessible platform adaptable to local, national, or international levels. It will allow citizens to find opportunities and track contribution statuses. To lower barriers, the system should support audio, video, and text submissions. Where feasible, open-source AI tools—overseen by an ethics committee to ensure neutrality—could assist in navigating complex data. This infrastructure must be publicly owned and co-designed with citizens to ensure a transparent, intuitive experience tailored to their specific interests and locations.

Mainstream funding for system-wide capacity building

Prioritise and earmark funding within EU programmes (e.g., ESF+, CERV, Erasmus+) for building the capacity of the entire democratic ecosystem. This includes:

• Empowering public administrations to create dedicated, cross-departmental units with in-house expertise in designing and facilitating high-quality, inclusive participatory processes.
• Strengthening civil society organisations (CSOs) to act as essential bridges between citizens and state institutions, equipping them to mobilise diverse communities and co-create solutions. Fund CSOs to deliver training that is free or incentivised, specifically reaching marginalised communities beyond already active groups.

Explore systems to recognise civic contribution

To foster a culture where participation is valued, public authorities should explore innovative systems that formally acknowledge citizens' time and effort, including both non-monetary rewards—such as public recognition - as well as financial compensation.

Launch and scale up landmark initiatives for experiential learning like

1.

The democracy laboratories: Foster a European network of "Democracy Laboratories" hosted in accessible public spaces such as libraries and schools. These labs will serve as hubs for playful, experiential learning where citizens of all ages can practice democratic skills and engage with local political challenges through facilitated games and workshops. The 'Democracy welcome kit': Establish a "Democracy Welcome Kit" for all new voters (upon reaching voting age or earlier). This physical and digital toolkit will transform civic entry from a formality into a meaningful invitation, providing an accessible guide to civil rights, a directory of local participation opportunities, and secure access to digital engagement platforms. To avoid information overload, the kit could use clear and visual "participation maps" (similar to a store path) to guide citizens through the democratic process.

2.

Promote platforms designed for constructive dialogue

The architecture of many digital platforms, particularly social media, is designed for virality and can foster polarization rather than consensus. Public authorities must actively counteract this by prioritizing funding and public procurement for technologies that are explicitly engineered for constructive debate and mutual understanding. This includes supporting the development and adoption of deliberative tools like Decidim or the Incite-dem Dialogue Tool, which help participants find common ground and explore the consequences of policy choices, rather than simply amplifying conflict.

Establish a European framework for civic learning

Develop EU-level guidelines that encourage Member States to integrate core democratic competencies into all levels of education and professional development. This framework must prioritise critical skills for a polarised age, such as media literacy, recognising disinformation, constructive argumentation, perspective-taking, and digital safety, to equip citizens to navigate complex debates and build resilience against deceptive or polarising content.. Create separate outreach formats for youth, first-time voters, and disengaged adults.

Create a coherent and integrated legislative framework ("Hard Power")

1.

Strengthen common standards for Member States through sectoral legislation: the EU should systematically embed a core set of essential participation standards into all new and revised legislation where a legal basis exists, addressing initially directives and regulations related to the European Green Deal and environmental protection. This sectoral pilot allows for the nuanced application of standards before EU-wide expansion. These standards, which would establish clear penalties and administrative sanctions for Member State authorities that systematically ignore or fail to meet them, these participation standards must include:

• Early engagement: Shifting the default for public consultation to the pre-formulation (agenda-setting) stage of the policy cycle.
• Clarity and standardised timelines: Mandating that all consultation documents are published in clear, accessible language with timelines tailored to the specific goals, target groups, and levels of governance involved, and with sufficient, standardised advance notice to allow for meaningful input.
• Centralised digital access: Requiring the use of accessible, centralised online platforms to publicise all consultation opportunities, timelines, and related documents.

Reinforce existing legislation with a "Right to a response": Amend sectoral directives—for instance, Directive 2003/35/EC concerning public participation in environmental plans—to require Member State authorities to produce a legally mandatory public feedback report following their consultations. This report must summarise the main themes of public input, clearly explain which key citizen proposals and concerns were adopted, and provide specific, robust justifications for why other significant proposals were not taken on board.

2.

Establish permanent cross-community deliberative forums

To directly combat the formation of echo chambers, public authorities should fund and legally support the creation of permanent local deliberative forums. While Recommendation 4 calls for a general expansion of deliberative mechanisms, a specific subset of these forums must have the primary and explicit goal of bridging social and political divides. By intentionally bringing together community networks that do not normally interact, these spaces can forge new social ties, break down "us versus them" mentalities, and build the mutual understanding necessary to tackle shared problems.

Promote and professionalize community facilitation

High-quality deliberation does not happen automatically, especially in polarised environments; it requires expert guidance. National and EU funds (such as the ESF+ and CERV programmes) should be used to promote the professionalisation of community facilitation by establishing a certified network. This network would provide training in advanced skills essential for a polarised age, including conflict mediation, depolarisation techniques, and facilitating dialogue between groups with entrenched, conflicting perspectives. Their expertise is critical for ensuring that deliberative spaces become forums for mutual understandingrather than just another arena for political conflict.

Institutionalise a universal "Support infrastructure" for participation

Systematically embed a comprehensive support package as a standard, essential, and fully funded component of all major public consultations. This must include practical support to remove barriers, such as free and professional childcare, stipends to compensate for lost work or travel time, professional translation and interpretation services, hybrid (online and in-person) participation options, and full physical and digital accessibility for persons with disabilities.

Strengthen existing community anchors as hubs for dialogue

Provide targeted funding to existing local associations, such as sports clubs, cultural centres, and neighbourhood groups, to host facilitated events focused on the "local commons.", like initiatives that address shared environmental resilience—such as greening urban spaces or local climate adaptation—.. To ensure these events effectively bridge divides, funding should be conditional on meeting specific requirements, such as mandatory cross-group collaboration and demonstrable outreach to specific, diverse demographics beyond the organisation's usual members. To succeed, these hubs must foster psychological safety by framing deliberation as a tool for community well-being. This involves using clear dialogue rules—like mutual respect and active listening—and providing shared expert context before discussions begin to establish a common reality, ensuring a safe environment that prioritizes genuine connection over immediate decision-making.

Promote adoption through "soft power" and institutional leadership

1.

Explore funding conditionality: Investigate linking the disbursement of certain EU funds to the fulfilment of high-quality public participation requirements by Member States. Establish EU recommendations: Continue to establish and promote recommendations, in line of Recommendation (EU) 2023/2836, to serve as a "soft power" tool encouraging Member States to increase the ambition of their national consultation processes.

2.

Pilot a compensated civic leave program

Introduce mechanisms to compensate citizens for their time being active in political participation or doing community work.Example initiative - The 'Democracy Allowance': This initiative introduces a day of paid civic leave dedicated to political participation and community engagement in order to lower financial barriers for participation, whilst broadening the spectrum of engagement opportunities in long-term projects. T o ensure broad accessibility, the program will explore publicly-led funding models to minimise impact on employers. Furthermore, it will incorporate standardised compensation mechanisms to decouple participation from existing salary levels.

Prioritise environmental sustainability

The development and maintenance of digital tools must follow green coding standards and efficiency principles to minimise the ecological footprint of digital democracy. Beyond technical efficiency, public authorities should prioritise the deployment of civic tech specifically designed to address the sustainability crisis, such as platforms for local circular economy management.

Lead by example with EU-level reforms

1.

Simplify and strengthen the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI): Review and reform the ECI process to lower the administrative burden and create a stronger, more transparent follow-up for successful initiatives. Ensure the highest standards in EU consultations: The European Commission should consider reforms to its own internal guidelines to ensure its public consultations consistently meet the highest standards of transparency, accessibility, and responsiveness. Ensure political follow-up: The European Parliament should establish a formal mechanism to publicly debate and respond to the outcomes of major citizen engagement initiatives.

2.

3.

Encourage and promote pre-consultation "inclusion assessments" and outreach lotteries

Public administrations should be strongly encouraged and supported to conduct an "Inclusion Assessment" before designing any major public consultation. This process involves proactively identifying the communities most affected by the policy, mapping their specific barriers to participation (e.g., lack of time, cost, language, child- and elderly care, or trust), and then designing the participatory process to ensure it is accessible and relevant. To ensure representative (hyper-) local populations, assess the use of outreach lottery systems that specifically target underrepresented groups, rather than relying on self-selection. Specifically in the context of environmental sustainability, assessments should consider social groups and communities more vulnerable to climate change impacts and with less adaptive capacity.

Integrate tech with existing social infrastructure

Rather than building isolated digital systems, civic tech should be embedded within existing associations, community groups, and local collectives as far as possible.

Foster public-community partnerships in tech development

Exclusion is often built into the design of digital tools that do not match a community's needs or culture. To prevent this, public funding must require co-creation partnerships between administrations, civic technologists, CSOs, and universities. This ensures that the technology developed is not only secure and transparent but also genuinely user-centred, accessible, and aligned with democratic values rather than purely institutional or corporate interests.

Launch a network of local participation hubs by enhancing existing assets

Use the dedicated funds to upgrade existing public spaces (e.g., libraries, schools, community centres) to function as 'Neighbourhood Houses'. Rather than creating redundant structures, these hubs should partner with and build upon existing local associations and community spaces that already perform similar work. To be successful, these hubs must: Have a clear legal mandate and formal links to municipal governance, prioritising a direct influence on high-stakes local issues—such as urban development and climate resilience—to ensure their work is impactful and not merely symbolic. Be staffed by trained, professional facilitators to manage dialogue and mutual exchange with the government, prevent capture by vocal interest groups, and actively reach out to underrepresented communities. Be empowered with their own small, pre-approved budgets to implement green community projects decided by residents (e.g., community gardens, local park restoration, or energy efficiency upgrades). This allows citizens to see the direct impact of their participation, building trust and momentum.

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2.

3.

Integrate deliberative mechanisms into local and regional governance

Public authorities should formally integrate deliberative mechanisms into routine local and regional procedures by amending local governance acts to formally recognise these processes. Key integrations may include:

• Local planning: Formally integrating mini-publics, such as randomly selected citizen juries, into key local procedures like the development of urban master plans, mobility strategies, and climate strategies, ensuring their conclusions are formally submitted and addressed in final plans. As far as possible, replace traditional, less-effective consultation stages with deliberative mini-publics to avoid administrative duplication

• Participatory budgeting: Integrating participatory budgeting as a standard tool within hyper local planning processes, allowing communities to directly deliberate on and influence spending priorities for a portion of the public budget.

Launch national digital literacy and access campaigns

To overcome the persistent digital divide that excludes citizens based on socioeconomic factors like class, age, and education, public authorities must fund ambitious national programs. These campaigns should provide affordable internet access, devices, and digital literacy training, with specific modules targeted at seniors and communities with lower digital adoption rates.

Develop and fund targeted, co-designed procedures through trusted networks

Based on the Inclusion Assessment, implement and fund specific participatory formats tailored to the needs of key underrepresented groups. Adapt formats to the sociocultural characteristics of each group by engaging trusted community figures (leaders, elders, intermediaries) and using context-specific pathways such as schools, cultural associations, and neighbourhood houses. The format should directly relate to the policy area, and could include participatory deliberative panels, co-design workshops, multilingual Residents’ Forums, or dedicated deliberation sessions integrated with school curricula. Potential topic areas could be:

• Housing policy, specifically inviting low-income residents, renters, and individuals experiencing housing insecurity and/or energy poverty
• Urban mobility and public transport, including persons with disabilities and the elderly to develop low-carbon, accessible transport.
• Social integration policy, inviting migrant and refugee communities to provide direct input on climate resilience and local services.
• Long-term environmental or youth policies, with a special focus on inviting the young generation to contribute to solutions to the climate and/or biodiversity crises.

Establish sustainable funding for the digital commons

A thriving digital democracy requires moving beyond the current landscape of promising but fragmented and under-supported projects. This requires a strategic shift from short-term, experimental grants to stable, long-term operational funding for open-source civic technologies, prioritising as much as possible the continuation of previous projects. This can be achieved through a multi-source funding strategy:

• Earmark national budgets: Treat foundational civic technology as essential public infrastructure and allocate dedicated, multi-year funding for its maintenance and improvement.

• Leverage EU structural funds: Strategically use programs like the Cohesion Policy and the European Democracy Action Plan to create dedicated calls for proposals that support the scaling and long-term sustainability of proven open-source tools.

• Foster public-philanthropic partnerships: Encourage models where philanthropic foundations provide initial seed funding for innovative tools, with a clear pathway for public authorities to take over long-term funding once the tools prove their value.

Prioritize hybrid participation as the default standard

Digital participation should complement, rather than replace, in-person engagement. Therefore, all major public consultations must be required to offer a hybrid model or both online and offline participation opportunities. To guarantee access for all, the Neighbourhood Houses’ (established in Recommendation 2) should be equipped to function as ‘Digital Democracy Hubs’. These hubs, located in accessible public spaces like libraries, will provide on-site kiosks, digital tools, and human assistance to bridge the gap for those without digital access or skills.

Establish stable, long-term funding for participation

Mandate the creation/adaptation of national and local funds, co-financed by the EU, to provide a stable and predictable financial basis for democratic infrastructure, safeguarding it from short-term political cycles.

Launch pilot initiatives for binding participation

The European Commission and national governments should support municipalities willing to experiment with co-decision on tangible local issues (e.g., local budgets, land use, or neighbourhood climate resilience projects). Pilots should prioritise small-scale environments—like schools or specific neighbourhoods—to build confidence and test models. Ensure participants understand the scope, legal responsibility, and mechanics of their involvement. Municipalities can draw inspiration from innovative, co-created models such as: The ‘Permanent citizen assembly’: This model establishes hyper-local assemblies with binding decision-making power on neighbourhood issues and direct control over public funds through participatory budgeting. To ensure inclusivity, members are selected randomly and geographical proximity of the assembly location should aim to be within a "15-minute" reach of participants’ homes to lower the threshold for participation Establish clear rules defining their decision-making powers to prevent conflicts with existing municipal bodies, checks and balances to prevent the hostile outcomes for minority groups and include incentives that encourage sustained citizen engagement over time and prot The ‘Inclusive citizen consultation’: This framework allows citizens to trigger a formal consultation process through a petition. A diverse consultation group—composed of randomly selected citizens, experts, and officials—is then granted real decision-making power to shape final, binding policies that are implemented and monitored publicly. Once a citizen petition reaches the required number of signatures, the initiating group should automatically receive modest public funding and access to expert assistance.

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Establish permanent thematic citizen panels at the national and EU level

Building on the precedent of the Conference on the Future of Europe and National Climate Assemblies, the EU and Member States should institutionalise permanent, rotating citizen panels aligned with key policy areas (e.g., climate, digital transition, social policy), focusing on long-term environmental and social strategies. To ensure their formal integration, national governments must undertake the necessary legal amendments requiring that major legislative proposals in these areas be accompanied by recommendations from the relevant citizen panel, which must be publicly answered by the legislative body. Participants should be selected through random sortition to ensure a representative sample of the population, reflecting diverse lived experiences and socio-economic backgrounds.

Develop a unified and trustworthy digital gateway for participation

To move beyond a fragmented landscape of tools, develop a single, interoperable "Participation Navigation App" that serves as the central gateway for all democratic activities, simplifying how citizens locate and engage in democratic activities. Rather than adding complexity, these efforts should consolidate information from existing systems into a more accessible App that can be adjusted for the application at the local, regional, national or international level. The App provides central gateways to find participation opportunities and track the status of contributions. To lower barriers, the system should ideally support audio and video submissions alongside text. Where technically feasible, open-source AI tools could assist users in navigating complex data, provided they are overseen by an ethics committee to ensure neutrality. This infrastructure must be publicly owned and co-designed with citizens to ensure a transparent, intuitive experience tailored to their specific interests and locations.

Establish an enabling legal framework to support co-decision

To foster the long-term legitimacy and institutional integration of these models, national governments should be encouraged to review their constitutions and local governance acts under strictly defined conditions (topics, thresholds, and duration). This approach positions co-decision as a mechanism to complement and strengthen, rather than replace, representative elections. For instance, reforms could enable citizen recommendations to become binding provided they align with existing laws.

Establish an enabling legal framework to support co-decision

To foster long-term legitimacy, national governments should review local governance acts and constitutions to recognize these binding processes under strictly defined conditions (topics, thresholds, and duration). This legal framework should position co-decision as a mechanism to complement representative democracy at the local level, including clear checks and balances to prevent hostile outcomes for minority groups. As far as possible, replace traditional, less-effective consultation stages with deliberative mini-publics to avoid administrative duplication.