The conference will be an opportunity to assess one of the crucial challenges to European integration: ensuring that European citizens can identify with their institutions through instruments guaranteeing decision-making processes based on transparency and participatory democracy. This means that fully applying the principle of European citizenship, in its widest sense, is vital to achieving full European democracy and a necessary condition for the progress of European integration.
Opening address and speeches
The opening address by Vincenzo Grassi, the Foreign Ministry’s Director General for European Integration, will focus on “European Citizenship and European Democracy, from Rome to Lisbon: citizens’ participation as a decisive challenge for the success of European integration”.
The programme also includes speeches on the following topics:
– “Freedom, Security and Justice: pillars for the construction of European democracy”, by Roberta Angelilli, Vice-President of the European Parliament
– “The Role of the European Parliament after the Lisbon Treaty: the position one year before the European elections in 2014”, by Carlo Casini, Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Constitutional Affairs
– “Towards a European Political Space? The challenge of citizens’ participation: institutional innovation and political, economic and social initiatives”, by Roberto Gualtieri, from the European Parliament’s Committee on Constitutional Affairs
– “The New Rules Governing Italy’s Participation in Creating and Implementing the EU’s Regulations and Policies. Law 234/2012: enhanced democratic participation and greater effectiveness”, by Roberto Adam, Head of the Department for European Policies at the Prime Minister’s Office
– “The Community Method and Citizens’ Participation. What is the future for democratic governance in the European Union?”, by Pasquale Ferrara, Secretary General of the European University Institute in Florence.
