Download Acronym of the case: VoicE

VoicE - Giving European People a Voice in EU-Legislation
Acronym of the case: VoicE
Web address of the case: www.give-your-voice.eu
Country of the case: Pan European
City/region: Baden-Württemberg; Valencia
Case Abstract
VoicE will improve the EU-legislative process by enhancing the participation of regional public
stakeholders in EU decision-making via the use of ICT. The project is designed as a citizen-driven trial
project implementing the existing state-of-the-art, award-winning open source platform Gov2Demoss into
a new political framework.The core elements of project VoicE include 1) a regional focus, addressing
citizens in Baden-Württemberg and Valencia, 2) a thematic focus, directed towards EU legislation in the
field of consumer protection, 3) substantial regional marketing measurements, extensive editorial
preparation by specialists, allowing immediate access to complex legislative issues for citizens, and 4) the
establishment of institutionalised communication and consultation channels between citizens and EU
decision-makers from their region.
Description of the case
Case domain
eGovernment
Topic
eParticipation, eDemocracy and eVoting
Sector
Other
Start date - End date
January 2008 To December 2009
Target Users or Group
Citizen, Business (SME), Civil society
Scope
Regional (sub-national)
Status
Pilot
Language(s)
deutsch, español
Policy Context and Legal Framework
The proposal VoicE is designed as a citizen-driven trial project, assessing the feasibility of a regional and
issue-specific approach towards eParticipation in the EU. The eParticipation 2007 work programme
requests citizen-driven projects to develop methods “empowering citizens to form, debate and voice
opinions
as
input
for
decision-makers
and
politicians
on
concrete,
significant topics.” In order to really empower citizens to contribute in a highly complex political
environment such as the EU, very specific measurements need to be undertaken, the core elements will be
summarized
as
follows:
• substantial efforts will be directed towards marketing measurements; citizens and civil society need to be
aware
of
the
participation
opportunities
in
the
first
place.
• extensive issue preparation by specialists, allowing immediate access to complex legislative issues for
citizens,
forms
the
basis
for
informed
citizen
participation
• a regional focus limits the scope of the envisaged platforms, but also creates channels for citizens to
communicate
directly
with
“their”
regional
representatives
in
Brussels
• close editorial management will ensure the quality of the debates; debates will be structured and focus
topics selected based on the actual legislation taking place in the field of consumer protection during the
runtime
of
the
platform.
• platform debates on specific legislative issues will be impartially summed up by the editorial
management and forwarded as consultation results to EU decision-makers in Brussels, but also to project
partners (like the Staatsministerium Baden-Württemberg) which are responsible to coordinate the region’s
EU
policies
(e.g.
in
the
Committee
of
Regions).
With the issue of consumer protection, a topic of clear and significant EU relevance has been selected.
Yet, consumer protection is also an issue having a direct impact on citizens every-day live, setting the
right incentives to really get people involved.
Project Size and Implementation
Type of initiative
Participation
Overall Implementation approach
Public administration
Technology choice
Open Source software
Funding source
Public funding EU, Public funding regional
Project size
Implementation: €500-999,000
Yearly cost: €300-499,000
Technology solution
VoicE aims at testing the already running eParticipation platform “Gov2DemOSS”, developed by greek
company Gov2u - and its application in a new political environment, the EU legislative process.
Impact, innovation and results
Lessons learnt
This model aims at testing a regional model of eParticipation towards the EU, focussing on a single issue:
consumer protection. The project will showcase whether this is a feasible way forward in EU
eParticipation
Sursa: www.eupractice.eu