BELGIUM
General information / approach:
Belgium is organising citizens’ panels, youth debates, citizens’ dialogues and a hackathon within the framework of the CoFE.
Overview of main national events and initiatives:
- Opening ceremony of the Belgian national exercise in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for European Affairs Sophie Wilmès and EU Commissioner Didier Reynders; subsequently, a panel focused on the subject “EU in the world” (8 October)
- National citizen panel, with 50 randomly selected citizens, on “European Democracy”, more specifically “public participation” in the EU, with a focus on communication, disinformation and the future of deliberative processes; organised by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (23–24 October, 13–14 November and 27–28 November)
- Debate on Climate Change and the Environment, with six parallel discussion tables with citizens and the government members, followed by a plenary session, organised by the Green federal government ministers (16 November)
- Youth debate on "The social Europe of tomorrow: our aspirations for the future of Europe", organised by the Socialists federal government ministers (scheduled for 26 November but postponed due to COVID-19)
- Structured dialogue with citizens on “Living in a border region”, organised by the German-speaking community (20-21 November)
- Hackathon on “the impact of healthy lifestyles and climate change on the quality of life” and “barriers for young people in the labour market”, organised by the Walloon Parliament (20-21 November)
- Panel on digitalisation and sustainable economy, organised by the Flemish Government (23 November)
- Series of debates on the theme of “Europe is listening”, organised by the Youth Forum of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, including events on 22 September and 29 September, at the end of November and at the beginning of December