Enhancing Public Participation: The Role of Parliaments in Public Engagement and Outreach

Under the auspices of the Democracy Support and Election Coordination Group (DEG), the European Parliament engages in comprehensive capacity building support for the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (VRU). A conference on the role of parliaments and political groups in engagement and outreach is part of the ongoing capacity building activities on communication, media relations and outreach, provided together with the International IDEA and, until recently, supported by the USAID “RADA: Next Generation Program”. The Inter Pares programme, the EU's global project of support to parliaments worldwide, implemented by International IDEA, is supporting the conference as part of its ongoing peer-to-peer partnership with the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

The conference will bring together MEPs, Ukrainian MPs and parliamentarians and practitioners from the EU and a number of candidate countries, looking at the key lessons in political communication and outreach. The sessions include panels on: communicating the role & activities of the European Parliament; parliamentary engagement in EU Member States and candidate countries; best practices of EP political groups in engaging citizens & communicating EU policies; communicating the enlargement process.

See the full agenda here.