A new Deliberative-Collaborative eDemocracy model is emerging worldwide. This model can contribute to a more open and inclusive form of policy-making by involving citizens through the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

ECAS is implementing a Digital Democracy Agenda, aiming to explore the democratic potential of ICT in:

• Reducing the gap between political elites and citizens;
• Transforming the relationship between EU citizens and EU decision-makers into more of a partnership, thus contributing to the creation of an engaged citizenship;
• Enabling the EU to go beyond consultations and structured dialogues with the usual stakeholders, to expand the number of contributors to EU policy-making, remove potential barriers to participation that translate into a general feeling of exclusion and engage groups that are underrepresented.ECAS actively supports the implementation of the first transnational instrument of participatory democracy in the EU – the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) – through the ECI Support Centre by providing legal advice, research, analysis and recommendations for the simplification of the ECI Regulation as well as through co-organising the annual ECI Day event in Brussels.

In the period 2015 – 2020 ECAS is working to:

• Define the possible scope and implications of Digital EU Citizenship in view of promoting and advocating for new approaches of engaging citizens based on ICT (e.g. crowdsourcing at EU level).
• Organise 3D – a Digital Democracy Day in Brussels as an annual event to raise awareness and report on new developments in the area.
• Advocate for increased user-friendliness and accessibility of the European Citizens Initiative.
• Promote and support the participation of youth in the EU decision-making process (e.g., the DEEP-linking Youth project).
• Facilitate a network of interested organisations and stakeholders in the Member States to multiply efforts and increase the impact of digital democracy in the EU.
• Launch a pilot on crowdsourced legislation at EU level.

Actions:

• DEEP-Linking Youth Project
• EUCROWD
• ECI Support Centre
• Digital Democracy Day 2016
• Digital Democracy Day 2015