The development and wide use of powerful new ICT applications are transforming the political landscape. These new tools allow citizens to access more information and interact, debate and participate in public life in way not seen before. They are beginning to give ordinary people a greater voice.
The European eParticipation Day will provide the opportunity for a high level debate on current state of play and future directions. It will address the political challenges and the solutions that ICT can provide. The US election campaigns and the forthcoming European elections will be among the discussion points. The use of ICT to help legislators and decision-makers in their work and in particular to better communicate with their constituency and understand their views will be discussed. The event will also look at the benefits of ICT for citizens by giving them more of a say in decision-making as well as how ICT is helping to reconnect Europeans, in particular young Europeans, with politics.
In parallel, there will be an exhibition of the eParticipation projects that have been funded under programmes run by DG Information Society and Media.
This event is being organised by the European Commission.
Location of the event: Charlemagne Building, 170 Rue de la Loi (Wetstraat), Brussels
Date of the event: 4 March 2009
Interpretation will be available in English, French and German
