Sep 15, 2025
Democracy in Crisis: Towards Permanent Citizens’ Assemblies
On 14 October 2025, in Brussels, the European Parliament will host a roundtable co-organised with Democratic Odyssey to debate a bold question: Should a Permanent European Citizens’ Assembly stand alongside the European Parliament?
This moment marks the culmination of a two-year-long democratic experiment: 300 citizens from across Europe and beyond met in Athens, Florence, Vienna, and online to imagine how Europe could “manage crises more democratically.” Their deliberations shaped a Citizen’s Charter with 10 democratic pathways, calling for a permanent Citizens’ Assembly as a new chamber for Europe.
For us at European Alternatives, this event is not just a conclusion, it is part of a broader campaign for Permanent Citizens’ Assemblies across Europe. We believe democracy must live not only in institutions, but also in the hands of citizens, communities, and movements.
Brussels will be a milestone, but not the end. From here, we continue building the networks, the practices, and the imagination needed to make citizens’ assemblies a permanent feature of European democracy.
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Projects
Democratic Odyssey
A decentralised, collaborative and transparent exercise of crowdsourcing and co-creation which seeks to institutionalise a permanent peoples’ assembly and participatory ecosystem in Europe
Peoples’ Assemblies
For over a decade, European Alternatives and its allies have been building the vision of a transnational, participatory, and radically democratic Europe, one that doesn’t only happen in parliaments or behind closed doors, but in public space, community centres, universities,…
Events
Democracy in Crisis: Should a Permanent European Citizens’ Assembly Supplement the European Parliament?
Oct 14, 2025 at 10AM