Flying the flag for Kildare on European Citizens' Panel
Mikayla Moore from Mullaghmast, Kildare recently participated in the European Citizens’ Panel, gaining a deep understanding of how democracy works in Europe and also contributing to recommendations on how to strengthen democracy.
The European Commission has opened up spaces for everyday participation in democracy through initiatives like the European Citizens' Panels, which bring together ordinary people from all 27 EU Member States, including Ireland, to discuss issues that matter to them.
The current Citizens' Panel on Democratic Resilience is examining how democracies can be made stronger and more resilient. It has 150 participants - selected through a recruitment process designed to reflect the diversity of people living across the European Union - who are using their own perspectives to identify challenges, exchange ideas and develop recommendations on the issue for the European Commission.
Explaining how she got involved, Mikayla said: “A lady literally knocked on my door and she handed me this slip and said it's part of the European Commission and it was all about democracy. It was literally a case of, sure, I'll do that for the craic”.
While Mikayla might have been a little flippant in her original undertaking, it soon sparked an interest in political events in Brussels and Europe, which will reach far beyond her recent involvement.
The Kildare woman spent a weekend in Brussels and then took part in a number of online meetings and discussions.
“In the last two sessions, it's kind of brought a lot more of an interest into politics for me,” she explained.
“We don't really see anything about European politics. But in my opinion, I think we should be seeing a lot more of European politics here in Ireland. And I think European citizens as a whole should have more of a right to vote in European politics than we do,” she said.
Discussions on the workings of democracy in Europe was what particularly interested Mikayla throughout the experience.
She said their first panel discussion was on fake media and independent news. “I'm still kind of trying to pinpoint why they were so concentrated on making sure we knew about the media and fake media and all that stuff from the very start,” Mikayla said.
When they broke into individual groups on the second day, Mikayala felt that they got to share ideas and opinions.
“What happened in our individual groups, we all had the chance to speak. We all had the chance to voice our opinions and to voice how we feel about things.
“ And to voice how we felt about Europe as a democracy as well,” she said.
There was a mix of different nationalities from across Europe in each group. “Our group, I have to say, was quite fascinating. There was quite a different mix between doctors, teachers, and students. The youngest that was there, I think, was 17. And we all were quite civil,” Mikayla said.
“Even if we disagreed on something, we still mutually agreed on a lot of things,” she recalled.
“And they continued to talk to us about democracy and how it works with us and how it's so important. And then at the end of one of the days, they had us all in the one room and they asked everybody, this is a collective of 150 people from all over Europe: do we feel that Europe is democratic? And everybody just shifted over to, no we don't,” Mikayla said.
“Being quite honest with you, what surprised me the most was the fact that we're all in the same boat. Okay. There's not one, like I spoke to many, many different nationalities when I was over there.
“So everybody seems to be struggling. Everybody seems to be kind of hitting hard times and being affected by the cost of living and trying to make ends meet, everybody is suffering that,” Mikayla said
* You can learn more about the European Citizens’ Panel by clicking here