European Citizens’ Panel invites citizens to contribute to the new EU budget

This weekend, 28-30 March, the first session of the European Citizens’ Panel on the new EU budget is taking place in Brussels.  

As part of this European Citizens’ Panel, 150 randomly selected citizens from the 27 EU Member States are coming together to discuss which priorities and actions funded by the EU bring the most added value to Europeans. The panellists represent the EU’s diversity both geographically, and in terms of gender, age, education and socioeconomic background. This first session will be followed by a second one online (25-27 April) and a third and final one in Brussels (16-18 May).

The Panel is part of a larger effort of the European Commission to engage in a dialogue with citizens on the future of the EU budget ahead of proposing a new long-term EU budget in 2025 that is more focused on the EU’s priorities, simpler in the way it works and more impactful through increased leverage of national, private and institutional financing. The Panel’s work also follows on directly from the 2024-2029 political priority “Delivering together and preparing our union for the future” which called for a new budget fit for our ambitions.

In parallel, the Citizens’ Engagement Platform, an online discussion forum, is open for contributions and insights from the general public. The Platform contributions feed into the Panel deliberations. In turn, the final recommendations of the Panel will support the preparation of the next long-term EU budget. Together with the Citizens Panel recommendations, the online contributions will feed the proposal for a new long-term EU budget starting in 2028.

The plenary sessions on Friday afternoon and Sunday morning will be web-streamed live via the Citizens’ Engagement Platform. In addition, accredited journalists are invited to join the panel in person. Please contact COMM-CITIZENS-PANELS@ec.europa.eu as soon as possible as availability of spots is limited and will be filled on a first come, first served basis. 

For further information on the European Citizens’ Panel on the new EU budget, please see the dedicated website (New European Budget - European Commission).