On 15 December 2009, MOMENTUM, a Support Action to the eParticipation Project co-funded by the European Commission, organised in Brussels the 'eParticipation Conference: Current State of Play & Future Directions at the European Parliament'.
The Conference turned to be a success thanks to prominent speakers and a total of 124 participants. The latter were welcomed by Anna Triantafillou, MOMENTUM's Project Coordinator, Mechthild Rohen, Head of the Unit 'ICT for Government and Public Service' of the European Commission's Directorate General (DG) for Information Society and Media, and Thanassis Chrissafis, coordinator at the same European Commission DG.
The event was structured around 3 plenary sessions and a discussion:
- Plenary Session 1 - eParticipation Research and Practice Concerning Environmental Issues (moderated by Dr. Julia Glidden)
- Plenary Session 2 - Digital Policy Making (moderated by Dr. Julia Glidden)
- Plenary Session 3 - Using the Digital Channel to Have Your Say and Be Heard (moderated by Fraser Henderson)
- Discussion - Future Direction (moderated by Dr. Maria Wimmer)
The conference attendees were also joined via video conference from Strasbourg by Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Paul Rübig and by Christophe Nonnenmacher, Press Officer to MEP Sandrine Belier. Both of them presented their insight and view on the importance of eParticipation projects and ICT solutions towards greater involvement of the EU citizens in the decision-making processes.
The theme of the Conference and of the respective plenary sessions proved particularly interesting for the participants as a most of them actively participated by asking the speakers engaging questions. In addition, the attendees had time for networking and for finding out more about the eParticipation Project during an exhibition of the projects and a cocktail reception, which concluded the Conference.
Videos from the Conference may be watched on MOMENTUM's YouTube Channel. Pictures from the conference may be seen in the dedicated photo album; the Conference proceedings can be downloaded from here.