Help us foster participation in the EU elections!
European Parliament elections are coming soon!
EU citizens of voting age will be able to submit their ballots for members of the European Parliament. With the voting age now lowered to 16 years old in Austria, Belgium, Greece and Malta, an estimated 270,000 teenagers will be able to vote in June 2024.
As we know, the turnout of the European Parliament elections in 2019 was still relatively low (50.66%). Multiple factors may have been at stake: difficulties in registering, limited information on the role of the European Parliament, lack of political interest, etc.
Therefore, the first phase of the 2023 edition of the ECAS Awards will open on July 25th 2023, and focus on understanding how to create awareness and increase political participation.
Background: The ECAS Citizenship Innovation Awards, launched by ECAS in 2020, give voice to citizens who wish to express their thoughts on their EU rights. In 2020, citizens were asked to elect the most EU mobile citizens-friendly locations. In the 2021 edition, citizens, academics, creatives and civil society organisations shared innovative ideas about EU citizenship. In 2022, citizens were invited to imagine renewed rights attached to their EU citizenship via our crowdsourcing platform.
This year, as citizens will soon be invited to elect new members of the European Parliament, our ECAS Awards will solicit citizens’ ideas on encouraging political participation. As a high turnout is crucial in safeguarding democratic values, we want to hear about challenges and solutions to foster political engagement.
Have your say on our crowdsourcing platform by October 31st 2023!
In your opinion, why do citizens feel disconnected from EU politics? How can we increase voter’s turnout?
Do you have a solution in mind to foster political participation? What can we do to encourage young people to vote?
Want to participate? Please answer this questionnaire on our crowdsourcing platform! Feel free to add a visual (photo, video) to illustrate your opinion. All ideas are welcome!
In October 2023, you will be invited to take part in the second phase of the Awards. We will ask all citizens to vote for the three best ideas submitted during the first phase! The number of clicks on the crowdsourcing platform will count the votes.
Winners will be announced at our annual State of the Union Citizens’ Rights 2024 Conference in Brussels, Belgium… and will receive awards!
Interested? Please visit our crowdsourcing platform.
Where: ECAS crowdsourcing platform is where the magic happens.
Who: If You are an EU citizen, log in to the platform and provide your suggestion so that your idea can win one of the awards.
When? From July 25th 2023 to October 31rst
How: Write a few sentences, share a video or a photograph!
The three ideas which have gathered the most votes will be announced at an Awards Ceremony in Brussels in March 2024 and be rewarded with:
The winning ideas will be promoted through tailor-made videos produced by ECAS.
