Bertelsmann Stiftung "Democracy"

Eastern Europe and the Balkan – Pioneers for more Participation

Tue, 22 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0200

National ministry officials and representatives from civil society out of nine countries, Albania, Armenia, Czechia, Greece, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia, Turkey and UK, came together in a two-day workshop in Strasbourg, to learn about the functioning and concrete method of citizens’ assemblies. The workshop “Citizens’ Assemblies – how to start?” was organised by the Council of Europe and Bertelsmann Stiftung. The focus of the capacity-building was on conveying quality principles of citizens’ assemblies, practical examples and the beginnings of a specific project plan

623,000 online votes: strong response to the recommendations of the “Forum against Fakes”

Fri, 06 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0200

There has been wide public support for the recommendations of the Citizens’ Panel “Forum against Fakes” on how to deal with disinformation: in the final online participation phase, more than 200,000 citizens cast 623,000 votes on 28 recommendation proposals of the Citizens’ Panel “Forum against Fakes”. The online participants’ rating of the measures was predominantly positive.

Eyes on the Prize: Shifts in EU interests require a reassessment of relations with the United Kingdom

Thu, 20 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0200

The electoral year of 2024 is an opportunity to reset a relationship that will be crucial for Europe's security.

Navigating the Future of European Cohesion Policy: Challenges and Trade-Offs

Thu, 13 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0200

European Cohesion Policy is at a crossroads, facing unprecedented scrutiny and debate about its relevance and direction in a rapidly changing world. Designed to improve economic, social and territorial conditions across Europe, this policy now confronts new global priorities and fiscal constraints. In our new policy paper Quo vadis, Cohesion Policy? European Regional Development at a Crossroads, we explore the current state and future prospects of Cohesion Policy, highlighting the trade-offs that fuel the ongoing debate.

Germany goes to the polls: How can we combat disinformation?

Wed, 05 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0200

In the Bertelsmann Stiftung’s project “Forum against Fakes. Together for a strong democracy”, more than 120 citizens have devised 15 recommendations and 28 measures for dealing with disinformation. Now everyone in Germany is invited to vote on the results.

Plenty of positive feedback on the recommendations of the citizens’ assembly “Forum against Fakes”

Tue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0200

In its four sessions, the citizens’ assembly compiled five provisional recommendations for better ways to deal with disinformation, and subsequently invited the general public to submit feedback online. The Bertelsmann Stiftung project presents the results of the online participation in a report. The majority of online participants support the recommendations. 9,623 citizens voted 10,381 times on the citizens’ assembly’s five preliminary recommendations and left a comment 1,703 times in all. There is a broad consensus in favour of the recommendations on better ways to deal with disinformation.

The whole of Germany has a say: Recommendations for dealing with disinformation

Tue, 07 May 2024 00:00:00 +0200

The Bertelsmann Stiftung project “Forum against Fakes: Together for a stron democracy" has sparked a broad debate about dealing with disinformation. In spring, the project invited citizens to take part in its online participation – and about 200,000 people have already contributed to the debate and submitted 1,611 concrete proposals on how to proceed against fake news. Here are the results of the debate.

Standing together for a strong democracy: citizens’ panel Forum against Fakes has started

Tue, 26 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0100

The big day finally arrived on 15. March: more than 120 people from all over Germany came together to spend a weekend discussing the topic of disinformation and how to deal with it. The atmosphere could not have been better, and to cap it all, the sun was shining brightly when the citizens’ panel “Forum against Fakes” got under way at the Kronprinzenpalais in Berlin. A perfect start!

Paving the way towards EU reform and enlargement

Fri, 22 Mar 2024 15:20:26 +0100

In the fourth online Democracy Conversation organized within the EU Democracy Reform Observatory Tiago Antunes, Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs, Corina Stratulat from the European Policy Centre, and Dominik Hierlemann, Senior Advisor from the Bertelsmann Stiftung tackled the pressing question: how can the EU tackle an ambitious double challenge of enlargement and internal reform?

Interim report “Forum against Fakes”: More than 1,600 online proposals with concrete ideas on dealing with fakes and manipulated information

Thu, 14 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Since January 2024, more than 165,000 people have contributed to the innovative online participation scheme entitled “Fakes and manipulated information: what should we do to protect our democracy?”. Over 700,000 votes cast and 1,600 proposals submitted demonstrate that citizens regard fakes and manipulated information as a genuine threat to democracy. Citizens have concrete proposals to make – not just for policymakers, but also for internet platforms and social media.