AEGEE-Osnabrück e.V.

Our ECI ended on October 6 and even though we haven't reached the threshold of 1 million signatures, we still wanted to celebrate. Therefore, we have organized a closing conference in the European Economic and Social Committee (Brussels) where we invited relevant stakeholders in the fields of civic education and active citizenship. In line with the conference title "More than an initiative - the Future of the ECI" different aspect of the current ECI revision process, initiated by the European Commission were discussed. 
Irini Pari, president of EESC's ad hoc group about ECI, introduced latest developments of the revision process. Afterwards, Esther Hillmer and Joanna Pankowska summarized the achievements and challenges of "More Than Education" ECI, followed by Margot Joris (KU Leuven) who talked about the importance of citizenship education. All participants then divided into different groups to discuss potential improvements of ECI as a tool. The following panel discussion incorporated those ideas. Speakers on the panel were Andrei Moraru (Researcher on ECI) Koen Roovers (European Ombudsman)
Gertrud Kendernay-Nagyidai (Assistant of György Schöpflin, MEP) and Elisa Liron (ECAS).
The overall message of the conference was that every ECI, successful or not, is important because it represents another piece of participatory democracy. The European Commission's proposal on ECI revision included already many important aspects and the attendees hoped that ECI will be more accessible, more appealing and more impactful.

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