Background note on fostering participatory democracy at local and regional level

Cities and regions are at the heart of the so-called ''deliberative wave'', with many of them developing initiatives aiming at engaging citizens in participatory and deliberative practices. Since March 2016, the CoR has been active in the Reflecting on Europe/Future of Europe campaign, providing a platform for regions, cities and citizens to engage in the debate on the future of Europe. Over 210 local events have been organised in 117 regions and 182 cities, involving 198 CoR members and 21 500 participants and collecting over 23 000 replies to a special online survey. In the framework of the Conference on the Future of Europe (COFE) and in the run-up to it, the CoR held more than 150 events - local, regional, trans-national and cross-border citizens' dialogues - reaching out to more than 10 000 citizens.