The online festival on the 9th of May is the public launch of the “Citizens Take Over Europe” initiative, and a call to join forces for citizens and civil society organisations from across Europe.

“The 9th of May will be the beginning of a long-term process: it is a call to join us in developing leadership from the bottom up, and to organise ourselves - citizens and civil society organisations - by means of our very own  Citizens’ Conference in order to shape the Europe we want and we need”. 

 “We are a coalition of European civil society organisations from across the EU that puts citizens at the centre of the debate on our future, on the reshaping of our society and our common European project, to set out how we can recover from this health, social, economic and political crisis through solidarity and cooperation. No single State will save itself from a catastrophe of the Covid19 Crisis if it will not act together with the others in cooperation to move towards a stronger Union. We believe that this is something that European citizens are everyday more aware of. And we are sure that Europe will change and become more democratic, free and equal, also through the bottom-up process we are inviting everyone to join.” 

The Citizens Take Over Europe initiative is a joint effort of a continuously expanding group of civil society organisations, currently consisting of: Alliance4Europe, Another Europe is Possible, Bundesnetzwerk Bürgerschaftliches Engagement, CIVICO Europa, Democracy International, European Alternatives, European Civic Forum, European Democracy Lab, European Women Alliance, EUmans, Mehr Demokratie, New Europeans, The ECI Campaign, Eurotopia, The Good Lobby, and WeMove Europe.