A New Politeia Network – Networking Seminar in Amsterdam on 9-10 December 2005

Since a successful conference in 1995, the Politeia Network for Citizenship and Democracy in Europe has been active in the field of (European) citizenship. The partner organisations of Politeia jointly organised quite a few conferences since then and have been active in the maintenance of the website www.politeia.net and this Politeia Newsletter. However, the remaining members of the board of Politeia decided earlier this year to formally dissolve the network in order to be able to revitalise it or build a completely new one with (new) partner organisations.

Rebirth

Following the growing Euroscepticism throughout Europe and the recent developments on the proposal of a European Constitution, active co-operation between European organisations to raise awareness and spread knowledge on European issues is now more needed than ever. The Dutch Centre for Political Participation (IPP) decided to put effort in building a new network of organisations that effectively work together and share knowledge on issues concerning active (European) citizenship and citizens participation.

Grassroots

On 9-10 December representatives from nine organisations throughout Europe were invited to Amsterdam to talk about the future of the network – about revitalising the old one or building a new one. The invited organisations concentrate their work on two fields: grassroots work involving citizens directly to participate in political life and research work connected with activities reaching country representatives, scientists, and teachers.

Revitalisation

After successful discussion rounds, an agreement was reached to revitalise the Politeia Network. The newsletter and the web page were approved as communication tools within the network and with citizens interested in our field of work. The forthcoming project taken up by the network focuses on ascertaining new methods of bringing the underrepresented groups closer to politics, involving them in decision making processes and expressing opinions about their environment, attracting them to politics and drawing attention of political parties towards underrepresented groups and minority issue. Suggestions for further co-operation touched issues like education and the dissemination of information on European issues and debates, exchange of expertise on mock elections resulting in co-operation in organising mock elections for the European elections in 2009.

Interested?

Organisations that are interested in the above mentioned fields of work, are invited to subscribe to the newsletter and express their possible interest in joining the new network. See www.politeia.net for more information.

Katarzyna Mlynczak, Willy Brandt Centre for German and European Studies, Wroclaw, and Judith Baltus, Instituut voor Publiek en Politiek, Amsterdam