EUact - “EP Elections and Beyond: Active Participation of EU Citizens at All Levels” is a EUROPE FOR CITIZENS PROGRAMME Civil Society Project that aims to encourage sustained and active civil engagement of young people at the EU level.
We often hear that “Brussels is too far away” from the EU citizens, especially from the young people. The turnout of the European Parliament elections is low. Nationalist populism and Euroscepticism are not yet defeated. What to do? How to enhance citizens' understanding of the EU, broaden ownership of the European project and build trust in the EU's promise of a better future for all?
What is our goal?
We aim to encourage sustained and active engagement of the citizens, especially young people, in the decision- making process of the EU. And, we aim to enhance the democratic legitimacy of the EU by offering valuable recommendations to EU policymakers.
How we will do it?
Four partners GLOBSEC (Slovakia), Das Progressive Zentrum (Germany), Higher School of International Relations and Social Communication (Poland) and Slavyani Foundation (Bulgaria) have developed a multidirectional project.
We will use a bottom-up approach, involving young people directly and giving them an opportunity to influence policies in the EU, through:
- conducting focus groups
- drafting policies and practical solutions with young leaders’ involvement
- creating “get out and vote” videos, geared towards young people
- organizing public debates
- introducing our recommendations to EU policymakers
Within EUact, there will be 28 deliverables, involving young people, experts, EU policymakers, representatives of NGOs, media, primarily but not only from Bulgaria, Germany, Poland and Slovakia. The direct participation for all events will be at minimum 540 people, with indirect reach around 500 000 people.
Our work will lead to two main outcomes:
- more educated and motivated active EU citizens
- a contribution to agenda-setting and policy changing at the EU level
The final report “European Elections and Beyond” will be presented and hand-delivered to relevant EU policymakers in Brussels in fall of 2019.
The implementation period is from 1 September 2018 to 31 January 2020.

Team
Vladislava Gubalova, Acting Head of Future of Europe Programme
Kinga Brudzinska, Senior Research Fellow, Future of Europe Programme
Marek Petrek