“Meaningful citizen participation requires honesty about the limits, transparency about the process, and feedback about the outcome,” stated Marcin Golaszewski (Poland, EPP/CCE), Congress Spokesperson on the European Local Democracy Action (ELDA) in Krakow, Poland, on 22 September 2026.
Speaking in the panel discussion on Local Governments in the Spotlight of Citizen Participation during the 25th International Conference of the Observatory on Participatory Democracy (OIDP), Mr Golaszewski underlined that “democracy cannot mean that citizens vote every four or five years and then step back. It has to be something that we practice continuously — through dialogue, transparency, inclusion and shared responsibility”. “Citizen participation is not simply a better way of managing a city but a part of democracy itself. Citizens should not only be invited to participate but they should also have a meaningful role in shaping the communities in which they live,” he added.
Participation helps citizens to understand better the role of elected representatives and increases mutual trust, continued the Congress Spokesperson, stressing that building trust does not happen through one consultation but is a process aimed at establishing a sustainable culture of participation. “The key question is that citizens can see that their participation genuinely mattered and was taken into consideration, to respond to their raised expectations,” he said.
Mr Golaszewski presented the Congress initiative on citizen participation, ELDA – European Local Democracy Action, during a showcase project session shared with the European Capital of Democracy (ECoD). ECoD became a Congress partner in organising for the first time in 2026 the Local Citizen Engagement Award to reward an outstanding and innovative project that strengthens citizen participation at the local level. This Award will be handed over to a winning municipality’s project during a ceremony in Cascais, Portugal, on 30 October.
