Selection from answers received

My proposal is to establish an annual prize for the most innovative youth initiative in the macro-regions. (Hungary)

The best motivation for citizens would be to see the effects of
their engagement in local participation, e.g. when politicians discuss their decisions with citizens and invite them to local council meetings to see how their opinions had been taken up and influenced the decision. (Austria)

Vlogging, involving influencers with many followers, web gamification techniques, virtual reality – any tools that are fun and could be used also for serious topics/debates. (Slovenia)

I have just  published  a book, called the  First Tourist in Europe, 100 days in the shadow of COVID 19. It is a roundtrip in Europe in the summer of 2020. The first COVID summer. It tells about being a cultural minded tourist in Europe during the COVID, but also  about being a tourist in Europa since the 1970 es. It is written in danish but i hope it will be translated to the main languages of Europe. I visited all the 4 macro regions in my travel. It was a special trip. I was a senior backpack tourist. The tourist hot spots were not very crowded. For instance I was almost alone at the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. My experience as a hard core cultural-minded tourist is, that it is very important to get in touch with local citizens of the cities and countries I visit. To meet liked minded people that will talk and tell you about their city and country. It could be people involved in CSO s. It gives new inspiration. I stay normally in airbnb, or do couchsurfing. It is a way to meet. One focus could then be, how to meet the locals.

I will share two examples from my trip.

I was in Vienna and I met with a lady there who I spent a day visiting the buildings of the famous architect Otto Wagner. She told me about his work. I met her through my couchsurfing Network, another friend brought us together.

I was in Bratislava and I met with a person from the European movement Network, she drove me to a Castle outside the city and we visited the the Danubian museum. When I left she recommended me to stop in Breclav, south Czechia to visit the Castles there by bike what I did.

Without the inspiration from these persons I would never have had these experiences. My proposal is to build up networks for instance home pages where travellers can easily meet the locals on a voluntary basis. (Denmark)

Tabačka – Kulturfabrik is a unique cultural center and an open zone for art, creativity and civic cooperation in Košice (eastern part of Slovakia). The services in Tabačka are aimed at supporting the creative industry and additional civic services in town. You can meet professional designers, architects, programmers, creative entrepreneurs, film and video creators in Tabačka. You can also print in 3D, buy anything you need to create street art or dine in the restaurant there. The hub provides opportunities for co-working, meetings and creating interdisciplinary projects. But what is even more important is a role Kulturfabrik has gained in providing services for local community. It became a center for exhibitions, multicultural events, interactive installations, workshops and public debates raising awareness to issues of local (even national) importance. Similar cultural hubs were established also in other regional centers in Slovakia and have gained the recognition for their role in promoting cultural and civic activities for local communities. (Slovakia)

Many civil society organisations had to close down, either not able to pay their staff or not able to deliver their usual business. The long time effect can not be seen yet but there are fears some sectors will never recover. Although many organisations have found new ways to act and engage some others are still petrified too much to think of new strategies to survive. At the same time, fake news and anti-government and anti-EU resentiments are growing, since conspiracy theories influence a growing number of people. Given the huge dimension of the crisis, it has turned out in daily conversations with citizens, that the failure of performance of the EU in ordering enough quantities of vaccine will most propably have long-term devastating effects on the acceptance of the EU. (Austria)

Citizens’ proposals presented during the preparatory process of the Shadow Report should be properly addressed. They create a firm basis for future work aimed at promoting horizontal joit actions of citizens and their organisations of the 4 macro-regions. European House is ready to fulfil a clearinghouse function among and for them amongst other by disseminating information, sharing best practices and promoting people-to-people contacts. An annual citizens’ meeting with participation from the 4 macro-regions would be an appropriate forum to overview and assist this process. (Hungary)

How to make citizens aware that (macro)regional policies are there?Promote more Annual Fora, and maybe local NGOs could organise mini-publics (deliberative forms of democracy) to introduce the MRS to citizens and present them best practice examples how to implement the MRS on the VERY local level (i.e. consider it as an essential factor in local participatory budget, introduce this agenda to schools etc.) (Poland)

Developing a vision for post-Covid-19 Europe is essential, especially with the conference on the future of Europe coming soon. We believe that it is now the perfect time to reflect on the EU and analyse it in its various facets. In 2020 discrepancies between European regions still exist, in terms of economic power and cultural differences. A common ground must be found where the set-up of the EU internal market should be built with the involvement of the equal share of power of all the stakeholders. The potentials for an improvement of the European social-economic dimension already exist. We need to keep advocating for the outcome of the Conference to be totally open in terms of possible new policies and Treaty revisions.