Improving democracy: CIVEX study visit in Murcia
The Commission for Citizenship, Governance, Institutional and External Affairs (CIVEX) of the European Committee of the Regions organised a study visit in the city of Murcia last 4 May on "Civic participation: initiatives and instruments to improve the quality of democracy".
Pedro Antonio S á nchez (ES/EPP) , President of the Murcia Region, welcomed a delegation of CoR members including President Markku Markkula who opened the working session stressing the need to "build trust" between governments and citizens. "The entire inter-governmental system needs to get closer to citizens" said President Markkula, recalling CoR's role in bringing the Union closer to civil society.
Murcia was the occasion to exchange knowledge and experiences on civic participation. Murcia regional administration presented concrete initiatives to engage citizens in public administration and decision-making. The region has adapted the European Citizenship Initiative (ECI), allowing - as from 6.000 citizens, to call the regional government to legislate or launch specific initiatives. Murcia has integrated the concept of participatory budgeting, authorising citizens to decide on the exact allocation of public funds via e-government tools. CIVEX delegates discovered the added value of the Iniciativa Urbana Espíritu Santo, a project of urban regeneration through the active participation of neighbourhood communities and local economic and social actors in Murcia, and the Wisdom Bank Initiative in the town of San Pedro del Pinatar (Banco de Sabiduría Pinatarense), a project to revive cultural heritage and local identity through inter-generational associations, actively involving youth and the town's senior inhabitants.
Murcia President Pedro Antonio Sánchez recalled that the region has launched civic participation processes in numerous and varied policies such as health, energy, social and environmental protection and equal opportunities. "We are persuaded, committed and engaged in transparency and civic participation. This is reflected through concrete initiatives in Murcia but furthermore, it is a new decision-taking approach and overall way of working that we are following" declared Pedro Antonio Sánchez, CoR permanent member since September 2015. Murcia was one of the first regions to sign CoR's Charter for Multilevel Governance in Europe approved in April 2014.
During his opening speech, President Markkula referred to some flagship initiatives in the same area that CoR is presently involved in such as the EU urban agenda, focusing on involving cities in shaping and implementing EU policies. The official urban agenda launch will be in Amsterdam next 30 May. President Markkula presented the new concept of open innovation camps that bring together different societal actors to incubate new ideas in key areas such as business innovation, industrial creative design and citizen's dialogue and engagement. A concrete example in the area of democracy and civic participation is the Camp for Societal Innovation that will take place during the Amsterdam Action Camp next 23-24 May. Open innovation camps are a novel instrument for addressing societal challenges and developing breakthrough ideas and insights in an entrepreneurial discovery process aimed at producing real impact.