Source: European Parliament
The Commission is committed to citizen participation and engagement as part of its policymaking process. Citizen engagement is underpinned by a robust methodology, based on established criteria.
The participants in the European Citizens’ Panels are selected based on a fully randomised selection process with the aim to compose a group representative of EU diversity.
The following elements are taken into account to ensure diversity: origin from one of the 27 Member States, gender, age (with one third of participants being between 16 and 25 years old), residence in an urban or rural area, level of education, professional activity, and the image held of the EU.
The last element guarantees that the same diversity of views found in Eurobarometer surveys (negative, neutral, or positive image of the EU) is reflected in the Panel. In addition, the panels are keenly observed by a range of experts and interested parties.
For the selection of participants in the Youth Policy Dialogues, the Commission also aims for diversity in the groups. It has made efforts to achieve balance in terms of gender, nationality and geography (including from rural areas and cities), and to mix participants from youth networks and from outside such networks.
Both the Panels and the Dialogues are accessible for people with disabilities.