Recap of this year's Europe Day | May 9

On this year's Europe Day, the European Democracy Lab (EDL) partnered with civil society organisations from across our Union to organise Citizens Take Over Europe (CTE). We provided an open space to discuss current problems from a political, social and personal perspective and develop solutions together. What are our concerns and our most urgent problems? To what solutions can citizens contribute in the wake of the current crisis? How do we organise solidarity among Europeans and with the rest of the world? Our day-long marathon on the 9th of May featured a rich curated program of online live streamed events from across Europe including artistic performances, political debates, readings, and podcasts. Check out the full programme here.

The new team at the EDL worked intensively to make this online-event a genuinely European experience. With five live online conference-rooms, that were live-streamed on Facebook, we managed to reach many thousand people from across the continent. With our friends and partners in the CTE coalition, we demonstrated that one does not require million Euros to establish up an open transnational public space. Despite the constraints of a virus that respects no borders, we came together to debate the future of Europe. As Niccoló Milanese noted in the opening session: 'despite my social isolation, I am not alone'.

Rewatch the opening of Citizens Take Over Europe and the first panel that was organised by the EDL in cooperation with European Moments and European Alterantives. The panel starts at min 17:40.