A Forum was organised under the High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic and the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, in the framework of the consultation on the White Paper on a European Communication Policy.

EMPOWER brought together 300 senior representatives of civil society and NGOs from 25
Member States, Bulgaria, and Romania.

The aim of the Forum was to provide the European Commission with concrete proposals on how to promote a European public space where citizens are better informed and engaged in EU policies and in the debate on the future of Europe.

The debate were articulated in plenary and parallel sessions, with the concluding remarks by the European Commission’s Vice President Margot Wallström.

As follow up of EMPOWER, the European Commission will publish on its website all the contributions presented in Bergamo and will take them into account when drafting the final report on the consultation, to be submitted to the European Parliament.

EHF general secretary presented a paper entitled “To promote a European public space” in the parallel
session “Network Europe, connecting citizens to each other.” The paper presented some considerations based on EHF position on participative democracy, considering that participation of “representative” NGOs may be a tool for developing democracy in the EU. The paper stressed:
l the need for a European legitimacy for euro NGOs
l the need to find criteria for determining that NGOs to be ‘recognised’ are representative of citizens’ opinions
l that no special channel be given to Churches
l dialogue between civil society and elected European representatives (Euro Parliamentarians)
l that the history of European countries be revisited in order to eliminate nationalist presentation

Two fruitful activities that put Humanism higher on the international agenda.

David Pollock (President) and Georges Liénard (Secretary- General), European Humanist Federation)