The European eParticipation study for the European Commission is examining the state of play of eParticipation across Europe, its main benefits and key actors, as well as good practice issues. A number of workshops will be held, the first one in Brussels.

The main issues to be covered in this workshop are:

* Initial views of the major factors shaping eParticipation across Europe, the main benefits of eParticipation at this level, and an overview of the state of play amongst European level and other trans-national organisations in Europe.
* A framework for understanding and evaluating eParticipation initiatives and comparing good practice case studies in order to highlight what works and what does not work in eParticipation.
* A number of invited short case study vignettes and demonstrations designed to illustrate what is happening at European level today.

AGENDA

9:00 – 9:30
Registration, coffee and tea

9:30 – 9:35
Opening and welcome by the European Commission

9.35 – 9.45
Introduction to workshop
Jeremy Millard, Danish Technological Institute (DK)

9:45 – 10:30
What should participation achieve and how can technology help?
Simon Smith, Institute of Communication Studies, University of Leeds (UK)

10:30 – 11:15
Presentations and discussion from European and international organisations on how they tackle public participation and eParticipation issues
i) Debate Europe/Plan D
Francis Whyte, European Commission DG COMM, EUROPA Have Your Say in Europe
ii) eParticipation: Views from the European political groupings
Ghislaine Robinson, Communications Advisor, Party of European Socialists
iii) eLegislation
Edna Pasher/Francesco Molinari, eLegislation Study, Edna Pasher Associates (IL)/Altec SA (IT)

11:15 – 11:30
Coffee/tea break

11:30 – 12:00
State of play of eParticipation at European level, covering EU and international institutions, civil society, political parties
Effie Dalakiouridou, Information Systems Laboratory, University of Macedonia (GR)

12:00 – 13:00
Presentations and discussion from civil society and other trans-national organisations on how they tackle public participation and eParticipation issues
i) The Århus Conversion: Environmental Information Management
Michael Stanley-Jones, Officer, Aarhus Convention Secretariat/ United Nations, Economic Commission for Europe
ii) Participatory Budgeting in the City of Freiburg eParticipation meets gender budgeting
Bengt Feil, TuTech Innovation GmbH/PEP-NET (DE)
iii) Monitoring, Coordinating and Promoting the European Union eParticipation Projects and Initiatives
Laurence Roelants, Politech Institute (BE), MOMENTUM Project
iv) Digital Local Agenda: Local and Regional cross-border cooperation for eParticipation
Javier Ossandon, ELANET (IT)

13:00 – 14:00
Lunch (BU29: groundfloor cafeteria)

14:00 – 15:00
Experience exchange round-tables – Small group discussion where everybody will be given the floor to present their experiences and/or issues which concern them, particularly in relation to two questions:
i) What is eParticipation expected to achieve? The strategy, goals and expected benefits of eParticipation
ii) What works, what doesn’t and why? How eParticipation is implemented.

15:00-15:30
Reporting back from group discussion

15.30-16.00
Final summing up, conclusions and next steps
Jeremy Millard, Danish Technological Institute (DK)

16:00
End

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