Public participation and public deliberation

On 20 July 2026, the BRIDGE project, together with the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Technical University of Berlin, held an information event on the European experience of citizens’ panels. Representatives of Ukrainian public institutions, civil society, and the expert community took part in the event.

Citizens’ assemblies and citizens’ panels

Deliberative formats allow citizens not only to express their views, but also to receive additional information, hear different perspectives, and jointly develop recommendations.

Among the most common formats are citizens’ assemblies and citizens’ panels. Participants are selected by lottery to form a group that reflects the diversity of society in terms of socio-demographic characteristics. This approach is particularly relevant for complex issues that are politically or socially sensitive or have remained unresolved for a long time. Examples include citizens’ assemblies in Ireland on same-sex marriage and abortion regulation, and an assembly in France on nuclear waste.

The European experience with citizens’ panels

The European Commission’s experience was presented by Colin Scicluna, Deputy Director-General for Corporate Conference and Meeting Room Management at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Interpretation.

He spoke about the Conference on the Future of Europe, which became one of the EU’s largest experiments with deliberative democracy. Four citizens’ panels brought together 800 randomly selected citizens from all EU Member States. The selection took into account age, gender, education, socio-economic background and geography. The panels worked in 24 languages.

According to Colin Scicluna, it is important not only to hold a panel, but also to determine in advance who will be responsible for following up on its recommendations. This is why the outcomes of the Conference on the Future of Europe were handed over to the leaders of key EU institutions.

From an experiment to a regular tool

Gaetane Ricard‑Nihoul, Head of the Public Opinion and Citizen Engagement Unit at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Communication, spoke about how citizens’ panels became part of the European Commission’s work following the Conference on the Future of Europe.

They are now organised twice a year, and sometimes even three times a year. Today, 150 citizens are selected for each panel, taking into account age, gender, education, socio-economic background and geographical distribution. People’s attitudes towards the EU are also taken into account to ensure a diversity of views.

The topics of the panels are linked to specific policy initiatives that are under preparation. This makes it possible to take citizens’ recommendations into account before the European Commission presents the relevant policy proposal.

The European Commission has also strengthened its feedback mechanisms. After a panel concludes, a report is prepared outlining the recommendations and analysing how they have been taken into account. Participants are subsequently informed about how their proposals will be followed up. If a particular recommendation cannot be implemented, this is also explained.

Another area of work is connecting European-level panels with local and national participation formats. To this end, the European Commission is developing the Citizen Engagement Platform, which is intended to become a space for broader discussion of topics considered by citizens’ panels.

What this experience means for Ukraine

For Ukraine, the development of citizen participation mechanisms is directly linked to the European integration process. The Roadmap on the Functioning of Democratic Institutions envisages studying the EU’s experience with deliberative democracy as part of Ukraine’s commitments as an EU candidate country.

At the same time, Ukraine already has its own experience of using deliberative formats. In recent years, seven such events have been held at the local level in Ukraine: a citizens’ panel in Konotop and citizens’ assemblies in Zviahel, Slavutych, Zhytomyr, Rivne, the Obolonskyi District of Kyiv, and the Lviv metropolitan area. Discussions are now under way about the use of similar tools at the regional and national levels.