ALDA General Assembly and Related Events

“Local Democracy, our commitment for Europe”

Agenda

3rd and 4th of May 2018

European Economic and Social Committee Rue Belliard 99-101, Brussels, Belgium

ALDA is very pleased to invite you to our two days events dedicated to “Local Democracy, our commitment for Europe” at the European Economic and Social Committee on the 3rd and 4th of May in Brussels. Around events, debates, working group and stands, we are deepening together the fundamental role of local democracy, shared by empowered and inclusive local government and participative and active citizens. ALDA is a leading organisation in Europe and in the Neighbourhood working on strengthening all the different facets of local democracy for successful, right based, inclusive and sustainable communities, responsible for their own future and for the rest of the planet. Through advocacy and projects, our almost 300 members, hundreds of projects partners and our 14 Local Democracy Agencies, are making our mission a reality.

From 9:00 am to 5:30 pm

European Economic and Social Committee Rue Belliard 99-101, Brussels, Belgium

The RE.CRI.RE. project : a glance at (post) crisis scenario of the European Union

RE.CRI.RE – Between the Representation of the Crisis and the

Crisis of the Representation International Final Conference

RE.CRI.RE is a three-year HORIZON 2020 project financed by the European Union and it involves a consortium of 16 partners (both from the academic and scientific world and civic society) from 12 European countries. It is aimed at analysing the change the crisis has produced in European societies and, upon this basis, the impact and the effectiveness of policies at all levels of governance in the post-crisis scenario (for details, please, cf. www.recrire.eu).

The final international conference is meant to disseminate the main findings of

the project. More specifically, it will be focused on the major learning, which is the recognition of how European societies are been subjecting to an anthropological drift and how the social identities could be taken into consideration by the local and European policy-makers even more after the crisis. The final conference will provide the opportunity to share the outcomes of Re.Cri.Re and to debate about the importance of EU as a long-term project and its impact on the nowadays socio-political dynamics.

Thursday, the 3rd of May 2018

European Economic and Social Committee Rue Belliard 99-101, Brussels, Belgium

From 9:00 am to 10:30 am

Round Table with EPD “Challenges to democracy: looking past 2018”

Democracy governance is one of the founding values of the European Union and has played a key role in accession criteria to the Union – also featuring as one of the principles of EU foreign policy in the Lisbon Treaty (Art 21). Yet today the position of the EU as a global normative power is being questioned while democratic governance is under attack in Europe and in other areas of the world.

The European Partnership for Democracy (EPD) will organise a panel discussion on ‘Challenges to democracy: looking past 2018’ on the 4th of May from 9h00 to 10h30. The panel will look at the key challenges for supporters of democracy and what can be done to assist representative democracy around the world.

EPD has embarked upon a review process of European democracy support that will culminate in the publication of a paper in mid 2019. The review is neither a meta-analysis of where democracy stands globally nor an evaluation of specific democracy programmes. It falls between the two in an attempt to take stock of where democracy support stands 10 years after all EU member states agreed to an EU Agenda for Action on Democracy Support in the EU’s External Relations. This panel discussion forms part of a series of events under the review process.

Friday, the 4th of May 2018

From 10:30 am to 4:00 pm

ALDA General Assembly 2018

The General Assembly 2018 is an important appointment for meeting with the whole network of ALDA, sharing the results and achievements of the last year activities, and further discussing about the next actions and strategies of the organisation.

In particular, this year, in the framework of our Annual General Assembly, we will approach the themes of the Cultural Heritage as leverage for promoting European citizenship and sustainable growth and of the Citizens Participation to the 2019-European Elections, as well as the issues of the local governance and civic initiatives in the upcoming challenges of the EU and its Neighbourhood. From 4:00 pm to 4:30 pm

ALDA Ambassadors coordination Meeting The Ambassadors of ALDA are selected people, who have known and supported the Association for a long time, who are mandated to represent ALDA, strengthening our visibility and presence all over the enlarged Europe, consolidating ALDA as a pan-European organization.

Their role is both to improve visibility and establish relationships with new counterparts within their country of activity, and to support the action of members of ALDA on the territory.

In the framework of the annual General Assembly of ALDA, the Secretary General of ALDA, Mrs. Antonella Valmorbida will moderate a coordination meeting with all the Ambassadors appointed for the 2018.

From 4:00 pm to 4:30 pm

ALDA – Networking Coffee Break Induction Session for New Members

ALDA is increasing year by year the number of its members, and in the Framework of the General Assembly, the new Members will be awarded the diploma of membership, as a symbol of our current and future trust and cooperation. In the occasion of the Networking Coffee Break, at the end of the annual General Assembly of ALDA, Ms. Irene Zanetti – Head of Office of the Communications Department, will introduce the new members to the whole ALDA’s Network and will present them the various opportunities of cooperation and synergies of being members of a such huge network. From 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm

ENLARGE Dissemination event “Environment and sustainable energy – A key to citizen

participation?”

ENLARGE is a project funded by the European program Horizon 2020, which builds and shares knowledge on the design features and mechanisms that favor the effectiveness and sustainability of collaborative processes in the environmental fields. ENLARGE will produce a game-book for all those who want to start a participatory process, supporting their choices with a tailor-made approach, based on the successes and limits of real-life cases analyzed. “Are you a civil servant, an elected representative, a member of associations or SMEs, or a citizen committed to the wellbeing of your community? Join the event, and navigate through the challenges of a collaborative process through the gamebook developed by project ENLARGE. The event will be moderated by Irene Zanetti, Head of Communications of ALDA, European Association for Local Democracy.”