In a world facing global challenges, we asked people from different European countries to share their perspectives on the role of the EU in the world and therefore help contribute to shape EU foreign policy.
The Online Consultation – A Stronger EU for the World was implemented as part of the EU for Global project. The project, undertaken by a consortium of seven EU civil society organisations and one university, started to co-design recommendations on EU policies towards global issues in at least eight different member states with the overall objective to strengthen transnational democracy, in a world facing global challenges.
With the same objective, we conducted an Online Consultation in the span of three months to collect views and ideas from people living in the Union on its foreign policy competencies and its participatory mechanisms. Participants’ contributions were meant to help us and stakeholders understand how the European Union is perceived in its regional and transnational work by those who live in its member states. Participants’ inputs would specifically be taken into account in choosing topics and issues to address both in the panels and in the recommendations that the EU for Global partners will present to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and other high-level political representatives in 2026 at the end of the project.
In order to create a participatory environment, we set up an interactive consultation on the Consul platform through the creation of a space for discussion and exchange of ideas. Indeed, participants not only participated to a survey but also had the chance to pitch, comment, and vote recommendations’ proposals. Our focus was the four main areas of global policy important to the EU, which have identified by the EU for Global partners: democratic participation, climate and environment, solidarity, and disinformation and media literacy. To encourage its completion, we relied on the use of social media channels, mailings, and any other available communication media, which helped achieve the final quantitative objectives and facilitated a greater territorial diversification of the participants.
Overall, 411 people from more than 21 countries took part in the Consultation. People of different age groups, from 18 to 74 years old, participated in the survey, with an average of 35 years and a median of 30, the whole for the European Union being 44,5. This indicate that younger people took part in larger numbers and are therefore overrepresented in the survey. The largest share of participants indicates being under 25 and between 25 and 35. This is in line with EU for Global’s goal of overrepresenting the underrepresented and reflects efforts to recruit young participants in general. Yet, young people were not the sole underrepresented group that we tried to collect opinions from. With the Consortium’s network and multiplying strategy, we incentivised societal groups that are traditionally excluded from decision-making processes to share their views. More than 38% of the Consultation’s participants indicated to feel as if they belong to an underrepresented group, and 9,23% indicated to identify as people with disability. Lastly, of the participants who chose to indicate their gender, 50% were women and 50% were men.
The “Evaluation Report”, available on the EU for Global website, details the results of the Consultation, highlighting most pressing and common perspectives and needs, but also concerns and challenges – as expressed by the respondents.
The Online Consultation revealed that EU citizens largely view the Union as a representative of democracy, peace, sustainability, and human rights. However, many expressed a desire for the EU's global actions to align more closely with these foundational values. Interestingly, while participants were aware of some democratic tools available to them, such as European Parliament elections and the European Citizens' Initiative, many expressed unfamiliarity with other participatory mechanisms. This highlights a need for greater visibility and accessibility of democratic instruments within the EU. When asked about the values they associate with the EU, respondents overwhelmingly identified democracy, human rights, peace, and sustainability as core principles. A notable shift towards environmental concerns and climate action was observed when discussing the Union's current priorities and future needs
The results emphasise the potential of the EU’s participatory mechanisms to drive democratic engagement at both regional and global levels. The EU has pioneered several innovative tools for citizen involvement in decision-making. which empower citizens (though not residents without citizenship in a member state) to influence EU policies directly. However, there is a significant opportunity to expand and enhance these mechanisms to ensure greater accessibility and representation.
The call to action out of this consultation is clear: the EU must take bold steps to champion democratic participation at the global level, leveraging its unique tools to foster a more inclusive, transparent, and accountable system of global governance. The EU has an opportunity to lead by example by ensuring that the voices of its citizens—and those of the world—are central in shaping the future of international relations.
