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Debating Europe Debating Europe

Group discussions

Voices for Choices

DENMARK/DANMARK – FRANCE – ITALY/ITALIA – GERMANY/DEUTSCHLAND – POLAND/POLSKA

We’re continuing our work to redesign the roles and responsibilities citizens, governments and businesses have towards each other to make society fair and work well for all, known as the ‘social contract’. Over the next few months, with ‘Voices for Choices’ we’ll be running surveys and group discussions with over 2,000 citizens in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, and Poland to get young people’s take on some key topics: 

  • Green: How can we speed up carbon reduction, lower energy consumption, and involve everyone in promoting sustainability? 
  • Prosperous: What does it take to build inclusive, sustainable growth that benefits everyone? How do we balance being competitive with looking out for social good? 
  • Safe: How can we boost European defence, fight misinformation, and strengthen global governance? 
  • Fair: How can we help depolarise our societies and create more balanced public debates? 

On top of these, we’ll also dive into the following themes, ensuring that our analysis can ultimately take a 360-degree approach: 

  • Digitalisation, AI, and connectivity 
  • Innovation, education, and skills 
  • Funding this new social contract (through public funds, taxes, and private investment) 

We’ll start the surveys in autumn 2024 and follow up with group discussions in early 2025 in local languages, giving everyone the same set of questions to create a truly comparable study across these countries. Running everything in local languages means we can get real insights from all walks of life and create solutions that actually work for people. 

The data we gather will feed into a report coming out in early 2025 to help new Members of the European Parliament and European Commissioners make smart and citizen-driven decisions. The findings will also fuel a series of citizen-led debates in the 5 countries of the study throughout 2025, in which citizens, including a selection of of participants from the group discussions, will get the chance to challenge and engage directly with policymakers and experts.  

And that’s not all! Debating Europe is part of Friends of Europe, a Brussels-based think tank with a mission to achieve more inclusive, sustainable and forward-looking societies in Europe with a Renewed Social Contract. ‘Voices for Choices’ is at the heart of this process to ensure this is a contract based on citizens’ needs and wishes.  

Stay tuned—your voice is shaping the future! 

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.