A kick-off event of Jean Monnet Chair project and first-panel discussion

About the project

The project addresses the challenges of low awareness and involvement of Croatian citizens in European Citizen Initiatives and EC public consultations on draft EU policies, as well as the lack of academic research, teaching and public debates about those challenges. It aims to promote excellence in teaching and research on active European democratic citizenship and strengthen the understanding of how the EU works as a precondition for active citizen engagement in EU policymaking. Given the low trust of Croatian citizens in the EU institutions and trends of disinformation about the EU, the project aims to contribute to the societal resilience to democratic backsliding tendencies and growing threats to fundamental European values.

By combining innovative teaching methods, students’ community engagement, research, and multi-stakeholder public debates, the project will enhance the active European citizenship competencies among students of political science and journalism at the Faculty of Political Science of the University of Zagreb and encourage them to share their knowledge about the EU among Croatian citizens. Through conducting communication campaigns on European citizen initiatives and EC public consultations and through participating in a simulation of negotiations on selected EU legislative files, students will develop their critical thinking skills and learn how to actively engage in European democratic life. Various events on active citizen engagement in EU policymaking will be organized to mobilise the participation of representatives of the academic community, civil society, media, and business, as well as local, state and EU-level policymakers. Drawing on the empirical evidence gathered during the project, a series of research papers will be published and the findings widely disseminated. The project should provide an impetus to increasing the number of Croatian citizens participating in European citizen initiatives and EC public consultations. The duration of the project is from September 2023 until September 2026.

Key staff members from the Faculty

Facebook page of the project can be found here.

A panel discussion on the participation of citizens and civil society organisations in the EU policymaking processes was held at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb on 13 November, as the first, kick-off event within the Jean Monnet Chair project „Active European Democratic Citizenship for Resilient Society“.

The event started with an interesting interaction with the Head of European Commission Representation in Croatia, Andrea Covic. During the discussion, a number of topics were opened such as the effectiveness of different participation and deliberation mechanisms, lessons learned from the Conference on the Future of Europe, as well as expectations from European citizen panels. In addition, students inquired about the European Commission outreach activities at the local, grass-roots levels, but also about recent debates on the civic space and possible implications of the „EU Foreign Agents Act “, and other initiatives aiming at fighting disinformation and foreign interference in EU democratic decision-making processes.

In the second part, the panel discussion focused on supporting the advocacy capacities of CSOs and active European citizenship in Croatia. Ms Maja Dodić shared her insights on the contribution of EEA and Norway Grants and Active Citizens Fund (ACF) to building capacities of CSOs in Croatia. Then, Marina Škrabalo and Ivan Blazevic from the SOLIDARNA Foundation shared their experiences in implementing ACF in Croatia and other programs of supporting capacities of CSOs for policy advocacy and citizen engagement. Professor Mario Munta opened interesting perspectives on the building capacities of CSOs for policy advocacy through cooperation with the academic community.

The panel discussion gathered more than 60 participants. It was facilitated by Professor, Igor Vidačak, holder of Jean Monnet Chair.

JEAN MONNET CHAIR „ACTIVE EUROPEAN DEMOCRATIC CITIZENSHIP FOR RESILIENT SOCIETY“

About the project

A kick-off event of Jean Monnet Chair project and first-panel discussion