CrossoroadsEU - Union of European Federalists

Read here the Final Report to EU Commission of the Project LINK

Read here the Report in PDF of the Project LINK

Watch here the website of the project LINK

Participation: The “Crossroads Academy: Intensive training for Europe’s change-makers” involved 59 citizens.

Location/Dates: online due to COVID-19 restrictions, in cooperation with Udruga Mladih Mladi U Europskoj Uniji (Croatia), from 27/06/2020 to 28/06/2020.

Short description: The aim of the event was to help the participants to master the issues, boost their skills and be Europe’s change maker themselves. The event combined presentations, interactive workshops, small group activities and individual feedback sessions. It provided the participants with the skills to master the EU most relevant and up-to- date political issues, and be one of Europe's change makers. The event combined policy sessions and interactive workshops to develop different kinds of skills. There were two morning policy sessions on: Economy, Climate Change, EU Global Role and Democracy.

As of the afternoon sessions, different workshops (2 per day) took place on:

How to identify and tackle online fake news and to promote a positive narrative on EU policies;
How to reach out to circles normally not involved in European politics or from socially disadvantaged backgrounds;
Advocacy in the EU bubble;
How to write a EuropeanConstitution and how to bring citizens’ ideas to the EU attention.

Watch here the DAY 1 and here DAY 2

Participation: The event involved 119 citizens
Location/Dates: online due to COVID-19 restrictions, in cooperation with Movimento Federalista Europeo – MFE (Italy), on 25/01/2021, 29/01/2021, and 30/01/2021
Short description: The aim of the event was to discuss Climate Change from different point of views, taking into account European, national and regional and local approaches to the issue, but also to investigate the cause effect relations and the implications of climate change on different aspects of our daily life and on policy.

The event was held in three different days and composed by several sessions (link to watch the recordings):

Climate change, desertification, and the migration issue (25 January 2021);
Environment, climate and health at the time of Covid-19,
Emilia Romagna: new pact for work and the climate (29 January 2021);
Sustainable cities and communities
Green Deal: the EU’s response to climate change (30 January 2021).

Participation: The event involved 54 participants

Location/Dates: online due to COVID-19 restrictions, in cooperation with Fundación Xul (Spain), on 13/04/2021, 14/04/2021, 20/04/2021, and 21/04/2021.

Short description: The aim of the event was to involve the participants in discussions on the Conference on the Future of Europe and EU democracy, and on the use of the digital platform Decidim as a tool for inclusive participative democracy. In this context, UEF collected proposals and opinions on the future of Europe in the field of participatory democracy and representation. A series of spaces for dialogue and reflection as well as practical workshops were provided.

Participation: The event involved 64 citizens
Location/Dates: online due to COVID-19 restrictions, in cooperation with UEF Bulgaria from on 14/05/2021 and 15/05/2021.
Short description: The aim of the event was to discuss the future of the European Democracy with the participants. The questions on how it can develop to tackle the current global challenges, internal and external, and how to achieve strategic autonomy in respect to other relevant geopolitical actors were addressed.

The event was divided in four sessions:

Time to Enhance the European Democracy and Build a Union Fit for the Future;
Training: how to use the Conference on the Future of Europe Digital (14 May 2021);
How to Achieve a Strategic Autonomy in Order to Make Europe a Global Player;
Workshop: The Conference on the Future of Europe as an inclusive initiative to discuss security challenges from a citizens' perspective? (15 May 2021).

Participation: The event involved 138 citizens
Location/Dates: online due to COVID-19 restrictions, in cooperation with Europa Union Deutschland e.V. on 18/05/2021 and 20/05/2021.
Short Description: The aim of the event was to focus on issues such as trade relations, vaccine distribution and a new EU-Africa strategy to be adopted during a summit between the European Union and the African Union later this year. The aim of future EU-Africa relations is thus to strengthen cooperation in key areas such as digitalisation,
but also climate and migration policy.

During the workshop under the guidance of two education officers, the participants dealt with EU trade policy and its implications for the Global South.

The event was divided in two main sessions:

The Future of EU-Africa Relations (18 May 2021);
the workshop, EU Trade Policy Between Values and Profit (10 May 2021).

Participation: The event involved 55 participants.
Location/Dates: the event took place in a hybrid format, both online and in Strasbourg (France), in cooperation with UEF France, on 18/06/2021 and 19/06/2021.

Short Description: The aim of the event was to discuss several things: the EU as a global power from different perspectives, its relations with the Council of Europe, European defence system and its role;

how international trade impacts on Human Rights and how the EU could address this challenge;

how the Conference on the Future of Europe can be used to strengthen European democracy.

The event was divided in five sessions:

Europe, a world power? - Introductory session (18 June 2021);
The relations between the European Union and the Council of Europe;
Is Europe in a trade war? What place for human rights in international trade?;
How to use the Conference on the Future to reform Europe’s place in the world?
Which defence for a European power? (19 June 2021).

Participation: The event involved 53 citizens
Location/Dates: online due to COVID-19 restrictions, in cooperation with activists and journalists from Malta, on
21/06/2021 and 24/06/2021.
Short Description: During the first session of the event with MEPs, activists and stakeholders discussed the current EU migration and asylum policy and its main challenges, and the possible way forward to achieve a truly EU-level migration system based on solidarity in the Schengen Area, within the framework of the UN Sustainable
Development Goals of the Agenda 2030 and the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. The second session focused on how migration is addressed in the public and media discourse with the participation of journalists and activists.

The event was divided in 4 sessions:

Migration and the Future of Europe;
How to use the digital platform on the Conference of the Future of Europe (21 June 2021);
Migration and the media in Europe;
Workshop: How to make the EU fit for the migration phenomenon of our times? (24 June 2021).

The Crossroads Europe project, co-funded by the Europe for Citizens Programme of the European Union, aimed at fostering cross-cutting dialogue about the EU, the challenges facing it and its future through a series of offline events dedicated to main forms of organised civil society (trade unions, student organisations, business associations and NGOs) and policymakers. The project equiped them with the necessary tools to elaborate policy recommendations around four key themes and, at the same time, it raised awareness among them of the benefits of a closer EU.

The project was implemented through a series of 6 Labs hosted in different cities and organised by a consortium of local CSOs. Each lab used an interactive methodology in order to achieve the following outputs:

Awareness acquisition on the topics and of cross-sectoral implications;
Non-formal education, with practical and experimental activities to foster participants’ knowledge of the topics;
“Sharing EU”: showcase of best practices coming from the business sector, student organisations, trade unions and NGOs;
“Boots on Europe”: development of concrete solutions for the short/long term and policy recommendations, and at the same time promote Crossroad Europe initiatives.

A training for organisers was held online (Croatia) on 27-28 June 2020, in order to ensure coherence and knowledge of best practices and innovating discussion techniques. The 6 Labs addressed to EU citizens across the continent have been held in:

Bologna (Italy) - ONLINE, on 25, 29, 30 January 2021 in collaboration with Movimento Federalista Europeo (MFE);
Córdoba (Spain) - ONLINE, on 13-14 and 20-21 April 2021 in collaboration with Fundación Xul;
Sofia (Bulgaria) - ONLINE, on 14-15 May 2021 in collaboration with UEF Bulgaria;
Berlin (Germany) - ONLINE, on 18, 20 May 2021, in collaboration with Europa Union Deutschland e.V.;
Strasbourg (France) - ONLINE on 18-19 June 2021 in collaboration with UEF France;
La Valletta (Malta) - ONLINE, on 21, 24 June 2021.

Each lab defined its own discussion agenda from among one of the following themes, according to local preferences:

Climate change
Global Europe
Security & FreedomDemocracy

PARTNERS

Union of European Federalists
Movimento Federalista Europeo
Europa Union Deutschland
UEF France
UEF Bulgaria
The Spinelli Group
Fundacion XUL
Mladi u EU
AEGEE Europe