Experts and activists in the EU called for more diverse participation of citizens in co-decision tools, pointing to the key role of information campaigns in raising awareness and boosting citizens’ competences.
Participatory budgeting, the shared decision between government and citizens on how to spend a part of the local budget, is being used in an increasing number of cities across the bloc.
“Participatory budgeting can be an effective way to align the spending of public money with the real-life needs of the community,” Marlène Siméon, director of operations at the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR), said during an event on Wednesday (13 July).
In her view, co-decision on funds allocation could also be “a means to navigate the competing pressures of continually decreasing financial resources and ever increasing and complex demands put on local and regional governments”.
Co-decision mechanisms are becoming more common also at the EU level. The Commission recently announced that citizens will be able to weigh in on the selection of cohesion investments going to their region.
Meanwhile, activists are also calling for adopting a participatory approach to the EU budget, letting Europeans directly decide how to spend a part of the bloc’s resources.
Should European citizens dictate the bloc’s budget?
MEPs and experts propose to scale up a city-level tool allowing citizens to decide how to spend a part of the municipal resources and let Europeans shape the EU budget expenditure.
However, concerns remain about the diversity of participants, as the youth, people with migratory backgrounds, and lower-income citizens tend to not take part in these initiatives.
Beyond the ‘usual suspects’
One of the key ingredients for a successful participatory budget is reaching out to those who are less used to participating, according to Siméon.
“There are some citizens that are already very active in their local environments in their municipalities,” she said, urging policymakers to go beyond “the usual suspects” and try reaching out to a wider pool of participants.
“It’s about offering even different languages, braille material, for instance, sign language translators and it’s about making meeting places accessible as well, providing childcare for all to be able to participate.”
Moreover, involving these communities “also requires some capacity building for those who are not used to participating,” she added.
Citizens’ competences
However, according to Elisa Lironi, programme director at the European Citizen Action Service, “citizens’ competence comes through practice”.
“There is the potential for this type of activities to enhance people’s competencies and understanding of how policymaking works.”
Moreover, Lironi said participatory budgeting helps citizens understand how policymakers decide to allocate funds and the responsibilities associated with these decisions.
Meanwhile, experts and policymakers agree that information is key to mobilising less active citizens and involving them in local decision-making.
“The most important thing when we implement this type of activity is really to have enough resources to spend on communication and marketing,” Lironi said.
Invest in the process
András Farkas, strategic director at PONT Group, pointed out that not all resources dedicated to participatory budgeting can be used to implement the projects people want.
“It’s very important to underline that whenever you have €1,000 to do participatory budgeting, not all the €1,000 will go into actually supporting projects that are voted in the process,” said Farkas, who is involved in a youth participatory budgeting process in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
In his view, to make participatory budgeting work, it is also important “how you package it, how you create awareness, how you inform people about it, how you consult people in the process,” he said, adding that “you need the investment also in this part of the process.”
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic/Nathalie Weatherald]
Source: euractiv.com
