The Good Lobby has joined Civil Society Europe and other members and allies in publishing a statement as a contribution to the European Commission consultation on the European Democracy Action Plan.
EU founding principles namely democracy, rule of law and human rights have been threatened within the European Union in recent years. This has also influenced the existence of the civic space as reported by Civil Society Europe. The COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions put in place across all Europe have further negatively impacted civil society and affected its capacity to fulfil its purpose in promoting fundamental rights in areas such as education, health or culture or in enhancing transparency for a better democracy.
We thus support the creation of a democratic action plan and we would like to actively participate in its development.
We believe that while civil society is key to improving the democratic system, it also is essential in empowering citizens to speak their minds whether it is about their opinions or their concerns. That is why we encourage participatory democracy and we see this element as playing a major part in the content of the upcoming Conference on the Future of Europe. Only by allowing civil society to engage in the democratic process, we are able to strengthen democracy in Europe.