The Citizens’ Shadow Report meeting with European Commission

The Citizens’ Shadow Report on the European Commission’s biannual evaluation document on the implementation of macro-regional policies 2018-2020

 The Shadow Report project is an initiative of civil society organisations from several EU member states to prepare an implementation report on EU macro-regional policies from a citizens’ perspective.

THE PROJECT COORDINATOR
HU – European House

THE PROJECT PARTNERS
AT – The World of NGOs
DK – European Movement Denmark 
IT – European Movement Italy
PL – Baltic Institute for Regional Affairs (BISER)
RO – Pro-Democracy Association (APD) 
SI – Zavod NEFIKS
SK – Slovak Foreign Policy Association (SFPA)

THE INITIATIVE
“An alternative positive voice. The citizens’ shadow report” is an initiative building on the potential of the relatively new EU policy-making framework, the macro-regional strategies (MRS). Civil society organisations from the four macro-regions – the Baltic Sea, the Danube, the Adriatic-Ionian and the Alpine – will join forces to compile a shadow report parallel to the European Commission’s biannual report on the implementation of EU macro-regional strategies.

THE BACKGROUND
The Commission regularly releases its biannual report on the situation and implementation of EU macro-regional strategies with a basically top-down orientation. The next report is due to be published at the beginning of 2021.

THE SHADOW REPORT
The core project idea is an innovation: prepare a shadow or alternative report by civil society organisations from the four macro-regions summarising their related experience and putting forward concrete proposals for increased citizens’ involvement in the future. This new experience brings together for the first time civil society organisations from the four macro-regions and the report is based on  the findings of the four preparatory meetings in Copenhagen (Baltic Sea), Szentendre/Budapest (Danube), Palermo (Adriatic-Ionian),
Ljubljana (Alpine).

The Shadow Report will cover the following areas:

THE FOLLOW-UP
Our initiative will not come to an end by presenting the shadow report in Brussels as a response to the Commission paper. Another novelty is a follow-up meeting during the first half of 2021 in Vienna to have the first assessment of the progress made. The initiative clearly demonstrates the value-added nature of citizens democratic and creative involvement in and contribution to EU-level policy shaping.

The project is co-funded by the Europe for Citizens Programme of the European Union.