 eParticipation preparatory action  The objectives of the eParticipation Preparatory Action are to demonstrate how using modern ICT tools and applications can make it easier for people to participate in decision-making and can contribute to better legislation. The action was initiated by the European Parliament and launched in 2006. It supports pilot projects in real-life environments that demonstrate the use of Information and Communication Technologies to bolster citizens’ participation in democratic decision-making. The Preparatory Action lasts for three years (2006-2008). Through a set of trials in real environments, the action promotes the use of ICTs in the legislative and decision-making processes at local, regional, national and EU level. . The trial projects are using new digital technologies to make legislative texts clearer and to help citizens have easier access to information about new ideas for legislation and to give them the tools to express their opinions. So far, 14 projects have been funded. In the first year six trial projects were selected and in 2007 a further seven trial projects as well as a support action to coordinate and promote the eParticipation projects were chosen. The European Parliament, national parliaments and local and regional authorities are actively involved. State-of-the-art ICT tools are being tested to facilitate the writing of legal texts, including translation into different languages, and the drafting of amendments as well as making the texts easier for non-specialists to find and understand. New digital technologies are also being used to give citizens easier access to information and the more opportunity to try to influence decisions that affect their lives. 2008 The adoption of the Work Programme for 2008 and the launch of a new call for proposals are scheduled for May. The draft work programme this will be available shortly. An Information Day has been organised to give interested applicants further details. It will be held in Brussels on 20th May 2008 at the Centre Albert Borschette. For more information, click here. More information soon. 2007 In 2007, the preparatory action was granted a budget of €5 million. Eight projects were selected for funding and started on 1st January 2008: CitizenScape 'eParticipation in Legislation Implementation': helping citizens to debate and engage with the implementation of EU environmental legislation at a local level with the use of state-of-the-art Web 2.0 social networking tools. Read more. http://www.citizenscape.org/ Demos@Work 'European-wide discussion between elected representatives and civil society': facilitating European-wide discussions between elected representatives and civil society on emerging policy issues in the field of public health, particularly the harmful effects of smoking. Read more. http://www.demosatwork.org/project.htm FEED 'Federated eParticipation Systems for Cross-Societal Deliberation on Environmental and Energy Issues': provides users with seamless access to existing federated content that matches their information search requirements, with a focus on Environmental and Energy issues. Read more. http://www.feed-project.eu Ideal-EU 'Integrating the Drivers of e-Participation at Regional Level in Europe': raising awareness on the latest evidence on climate change, and appropriate policy responses, together with assessments of the financial impact and costs of inaction. Read more. http://www.ideal-eu.net VEP 'The Virtual European Parliament': creates a virtual European Parliament in which young citizens can participate via mobiles and web2.0 technologies and tools. Read more http://www.virtualep.eu/ VOICE 'Giving European People a voice in EU-legislation': enhancing the participation of citizens from regions in Germany and Spain in EU decision-making in the area of consumer protection. Read more. http://www.give-your-voice.eu/ eCommittee: provides citizens with the opportunity to follow issues in the European Parliament's Environment Committee and to interact with MEPs. The focus will be on climate change. Read more. http://www.ourclimate.eu/ourclimate/ecp.aspx Momentum: a support action to help monitor, coordinate and promote the EU eParticipation initiative. Read more. http://www.smartup.gr/momentum/ The budget available in 2006 was €2 million, and six projects were selected for funding: DALOS 'Drafting legislation with ontology-base support': the project aims to provide law-makers and European citizens with linguistic and knowledge management tools to assist in accessing and retrieving as well as drafting legal texts. Read more. SEAL 'Smart Environment for Assisting the drafting and debating of Legislation': developing an integrated working environment to help those involved in drafting legal texts. The project provides the tools to make it easier to create legal drafts and connections from and to existing legal sources.Read more. LEGESE 'Easing participation in legislative processes': this project provides easier access to, and understanding of, EU legislation and processes. Read more. LEX-IS 'Enabling participation of youth in the public debate of legislation among Parliaments, citizens and businesses in the European Union': enhancing public participation in the preparatory stages (legislation formation and debate), specifically targeting the participation of younger citizens. Read more. LEXIPATION 'An advanced ICT tool for enhancing Citizen's participation in the legislative process': this project provides tools to aid interaction between members of parliaments and citizens or groups of citizens at the regional level in four member states (Germany, Greece, Italy, and UK)Read more. TID+ 'Enabling citizens' initiative to eParticipation': based on an Estonian experience (Today I Decide) which enables citizens to propose, discuss and express views on new legislation initiatives, while allowing decision-makers to deliver a response to them, this project will adapt and make available this service in a cross-border environment. Read more. |
