1500 participants, 12 Member States, 31 politicians. How did these all people come together despite the Covid restrictions? Our partners at Pulse of Europe discovered a corona-safe way to bring citizens together and connect them with politicians to discuss specific proposals for the future of Europe. People in small groups, either groups of friends or strangers through a matching system, had the opportunity to meet online in Pulse of Europe’s 3rd round of the HomeParliaments project. In fall 2020, citizens from over 12 different European countries took part to discuss European solidarity. The results of the participants’ discussions saw a response by 30 EU politicians across five different parties, in addition to an endorsement by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The discussions on European solidarity come at a perfect timing as Europe is experiencing the health, financial, and societal consequences of the Covid crisis, and as developments about the Conference on the Future of Europe are in the pipeline. In this round, participants discussed financial support for countries hit hard by the crisis, social inequality between Member States, and the fight against climate change, under the overarching theme of European solidarity. The most popular policy proposal discussed by the HomeParliaments participants was on the issue of the EU focusing on environmentally friendly innovation and jobs, with an average approval of 8.9 out of 10, according to the participants’ votes. The full report of the 3rd round of HomeParliaments can be found here.

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