Interim Conference Fulda, September 2023
Despite the activities of the EU and national institutions, as well as intermediary institutions and actors, studies and surveys note a growing gap between the so-called "EU elites" and EU citizens. The EU has a legitimacy problem, support rates dropped during the height of the financial crisis and, despite the improving economic situation, votes for populist, extremist, anti-EU and anti-democratic parties and movements are rising across the EU. At the same time, the Europeanisation of politics and decision-making continues to affect and change the national democratic systems of member states.
What explains the distance between EU institutions and EU citizens? The event presented the first results of the Jean Monnet research projects "Debating Europe" and the Jean Monnet Chair "BridgE" on this questions. In the projects, a total of 18 international focus groups were and are being conducted in Bulgaria, Finland, France, Croatia, Slovenia and Germany. 12 of these have now taken place and the first results are available.
On 11 September at 6pm, the interim results were presented by Claudia Wiesner (Fulda University of Applied Sciences), Cecile Robert (Sciences Po Lyon) Willy Beauvallet (Université de Lyon II), Ana Matan; (University of Zagreb), Meta Novak (University of Ljubljana), Niilo Kauppi and Kim Zilliacus (University of Helsinki) and Ruzha Smilova (Centre for Liberal Strategies).
On 12 September at 9.30am, social scientists Virginie van Ingledom (Leuven), Celine Belot (Grenoble) and Claudia Wiesner (Fulda) discussed the relationship between citizens and the EU.
On 12 September at 5pm, the Jean Monnet Chair "Bridging the Gap between the EU and is Citizens" concludes with a discussion on the consequences and possibilities for the EU to become closer to its citizens. Representatives from political practice, Thomas Berger for Europe Direct, Peter Schaub for Europa-Union and Marianne Müller for Pulse of Europe, as well as Muriel C. Pluschke (Fulda University of Applied Sciences) discussed.
