Day 3: Berlin, November 9th
Berlin Conference 2021: Europe Bottom-Up!
Second Plenary Session: The Platform “Europe Bottom-Up”
The second plenary session had the aim of presenting the platform ”Europe Bottom-Up“ and of collecting and exchanging ideas for its implementation and use in the future. The platform is a new tool to facilitate action and cooperation among initiatives that contribute to the European development and are willing to take responsibility in fostering these ideas and values. After all, it is the lives and achievements of the many at the grassroots level that determine the success or failure of Europe’s social, economic, cultural and societal reality. Europe Bottom-Up is open to all initiatives that understand Europe as a union of citizens and want to strengthen their participation in the common effort to support the European project.
Representatives of different cultural institutions and initiatives commented on the platform, its usefulness for their ideas, and possible problems.
In her opening statement Irmgard Maria Fellner (Federal Foreign Office) stressed the increasing importance of foreign affairs changing the focus from capitals to local and peripheral perspectives. Civil society must be taken into consideration, and here, cultural exchange plays a central role. Therefore, the platform supports this new direction of foreign affairs policy by serving as a cooperation tool for cultural initiatives from all over Europe.
Andreas Nitsche (Interactive Democracy) evaluated the platform as an enabler of cooperation among European initiatives. He saw it as a clear promise of empowerment for civil society organisations that share a mutual understanding of European rights and values and a tool to strengthen political diversity. Ştefan Teişanu (Cluj Cultural Centre) pointed out the need to ask the question how the platform should be populated to prevent it from staying empty. He stressed its uniqueness in terms of a shared space and the access to data storage. Christiane Lötsch, Christian Schneegass, and Yves Mettler (project group “Artists and Cultural Institutions for Europe”) saw the potential of the platform in providing a space for the exchange of artistic ideas and in functioning as a showcase for artwork. European artists could therefore cooperate with and inspire each other while addressing European topics and problems on a local and foreign level. Georg Kentrup (project group “Performing Europe”) has had previous experience with his theatre network’s own trans-European action platform. He sees potential in connecting this with the new platform and in finding more opportunities to connect digital and analogue actions. Christian Thomsen’s (President of Technische Universität Berlin) explained that TU tries to tackle climate change together with other research institutions such as the University of Arts and the University of Potsdam from a local perspective. Here, he saw similarities in the platform’s idea of a bottom-up approach. Norbert Palz (President of the University of Arts) stated that the UDK’s approach to foster international collaborations is in accordance with the platform’s aims. He saw the emerging digital sphere — to which he counts the platform Europe Bottom-Up — as a space where artistic practices can take place without borders or being hindered by local political situations. Christian Johann (European Academy Berlin and the project group “European perspectives on local history”) pointed out three central aims of his project group that are connected to those of the platform: First, as a room for exchange. Furthermore, it should help to empower people digitally to cross borders and reach new audiences, especially younger people. Finally, the platform could help connecting different local European perspectives on history. Birgit Heidsiek (Project group “Carbon-Neutral Cultural Work”) stressed that more cooperation between cities and the cultural industry is necessary to make culture work greener and more sustainable. The platform could help to establish and foster these cooperations. Roland Stolte (House of One) described the birth of the House of One as a grassroots movement. Its uniqueness resides within bringing together the three monotheistic religions and civil society in one house of worship and by already setting an example for other countries in Europe. Therefore, it matches the bottom-up idea embodied by the platform. In the future, the platform might help connecting this cross border movement. Wolfram Korr (Brandenburgische Sommerkonzerte) initiator of one of Germany’s biggest festivals for classical music hoped for new collaborations with music institutions in Europe through the platform. Mahir Namur (A Soul for Europe) appreciated the possibility to strengthen cultural activities in Europe through the platform. He saw its potential in bringing together people from many different countries. The platform could work as an archive for their commitment and make progress visible. Onno Falkena (Wir sind Europa) is concerned about a missing dialogue with people within Europe that do not feel represented and seen. This can result in an increasingly negative attitude towards the European Union. He expressed his hope that the platform will serve as a mediator that reaches out to those people and opens a space where their voices can be heard.
Volker Hassemer (Stiftung Zukunft Berlin) concluded the session by stressing that the platform will function as a space for people who actively commit to Europe. It is not supposed to be a register of names or a place for declarations but a space in which active cooperation under shared European values takes place.
Third Plenary Session: Cities for Europe
Part 1: The discussion revolved around the question of what cities were doing on a local level to contribute to Europe’s advancement? To this effect, we asked representatives of different European cities and regions about the tangible contributions and concrete steps that were or could be taken on a municipal level to build Europe from the bottom-up.
In his keynote, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, President of the European Committee of the Regions, pointed out the importance of diverse regional conversations and of establishing partnerships, synergies, and alliances between regions. Territories matter, he said and added that taking this into consideration, the cities, regions, and villages needed to move through a common course towards the future of Europe as they are the engines for evolving the European democracy.
From the input given by the city representatives of several European cities in the first part of the session, the following conclusions could be drawn:
Cities and regions face common challenges, be it brain drain and demographic decline (examples: Gabrovo and Zittau) or increased movement towards the settlements on the border of big cities in the aftermath of the Covid19 pandemic (Panketal). The common goal is to improve living conditions in these regions and cities and to include citizens in the discussion on how to advance their city or region for the benefit of Europe. Some of the suggestions on how to achieve this can be summed up as follows:
1) Involving the citizens in this process is extremely important. Several examples presented by the mayors of Gabrovo, Leuven, Zittau, and Panketal show that including various levels such as institutions, companies, NGOs, cultural initiatives, and citizens into a systematic collaboration approach and in a structured way with the objective of working on a common goal is a fruitful process which leads to more widely accepted solutions.
2) Cities and regions and Europe as a whole face common challenges, which can be solved through joint efforts. Local authorities could and should cooperate, share the knowledge, and develop or support grassroots projects, as well as show solidarity and support for their partners through the common values they share.
3) The potential especially of cross-border regions is seen in the examples of Zittau and the Szczecin Metropolitan Region: although it is a challenge to bring together people living in border areas where there were and still may be conflicts, they play the role of European pioneers because of their cross-cultural lifestyles and networks, thus creating an overarching identity. Language, culture, and infrastructure are key elements to overcome differences.
4) Finding solutions in the area of integration and democracy with digital participation strategies and citizen platforms — as presented in the example of Catalonia — is a lesson learned on a local level that can and should be transferred to the European sphere.
All examples show that doing this work on a local level is important because in this process, cities are inventing solutions to European problems. Furthermore, they build the basis for European cooperation through their exchange, and they are a laboratory where Europe can test its ideas and values and find a common denominator.
Part 2: During the second part of the session extra attention was given to two important topics: the migration and integration policies and democratic practices on a local level.
Gesine Schwan proposes a specific paradigm shift by advocating for a decentralised approach that gives more power and incentives to the municipalities in the migration and integration policies. Underpinned by the example of the city of Potsdam and the alliance “Cities of Safe Harbours”, this approach stands for a European bottom-up endeavour. According to Gesine Schwann in the last five years cities have shown that the state can rely on their willingness to accept migrants and refugees and that they can offer a solution to these issues based on their local experience. Integration is happening on site, and cities can and should establish multi-stakeholder advisory groups and bring together representatives from society in order to develop ideas and prospects for the future of the municipality. Meanwhile initiatives such as the alliance “Cities of Safe Harbours” have a growing number of municipalities who are willing to welcome more refugees than distribution policies require, even if this goes against the national government policies. Mike Schubert, the mayor of the city of Potsdam — one of the alliance’s initiators — underlines the importance of acting on the local level and of involving the municipalities in the decision-making process and discussion of distribution mechanisms. In the end, this is where integration happens. Furthermore, the established network can show solidarity with cities that are dealing more frequently with the receiving and accommodation of migrants due to their geographical location. According to Yonous Muhammadi activists and individuals from civil society also play an important role in this process. He suggests following approach to good integration: concrete integration plans and strategies on a national and local level, making sure there is a good coordination between all stakeholders and giving power and voice to the local society and the refugees and migrants themselves because their contribution is also essential to the integration process. Pieter Boeder underlined further the individual citizens’ power to act. The concept of Europe is based on friendship; so it cannot be that in cities like Athens, people still sleep in cardboard boxes, must look for their food in garbage cans. This must change: We have the capacity and the means. It is time to work towards unified, multi-stakeholder solutions for Europe as a whole — not just at nation state or municipal level, but also as citizens, as neighbours, and as friends.
Part 3: The session ended with presentations of several examples from cities and municipalities that are developing opportunities and structures to include the inhabitants in the political decision-making processes and to give them an active role in the development of their neighbourhoods and cities. What these examples from the cities of Cluj, Kingersheim, Berlin, and Utrecht have in common is the attempt to create structures which allow citizens and elected officials to come together, discuss issues, and plan common strategies on how to proceed on questions which are important for the development of their city. Experiences drawn from these initiatives show that sometimes it takes time to agree on a subject and to create a common goal. Nevertheless, it is worth investing this time and supporting local democratic practices in order for them to be reflected on the European level.
