Citizen Conventions are needed to define European research.

Par
vendredi 12 janvier 2018

Miniature

Europe’s next budget for research-funding could reach €120-billion for the coming seven years. The European Parliament will vote in 2019 on its allocation in the next Research Framework Programme (FP9). Once again, most of that money will be granted to multinational companies, unless…

Sciences Citoyennes and Global Health Advocates, supported by a coalition of European non-governmental organisations (NGOs), have succeeded in convincing of the need for revitalisation of European democracy. The goal can only be achieved through the political engagement of citizens.

The next FP9 could be shaped by research missions. Who better than European citizens can define their priorities ?

In practice, we promote the involvement of citizens in the co-designing of the missions through a dedicated mechanism : the Citizen Conventions. This method is based on the idea that a randomly selected group of European citizens, trained by a pool of experts on various themes, is able to comprehend complex topics and take imaginative decisions for the greater public good.

At the same time, Sciences Citoyennes and Global Health Advocates are promoting a greater participation of civil society as a stakeholder. Experts from associations could share their theoretical and practical knowledge, make proposals in order to establish a hierarchy for research topics and participate in the strategic planning of the next FP9.

The European Union would benefit from a revitalisation of democracy and from a program that is designed by and for citizens. We invite you to read our propositions in more detail and to share them widely with European and national elected representatives.