Overview
Agenda
Participants List
Presentations
Workshop Report
Photos
Additional Background Material
Contact details:

(Quelle: www.parlinkom.gv.at - Foto: Atelier Schiffleitner)

• Following the UK e-Government Ministerial conference, and the message of the EPRI members conclusions, this workshop will focus on examining national parliaments agendas and strategies for reconnecting with citizens ¡V in the context of ¡§e-government¡¨ developments.
• The question of how the European debate could be integrated into these plans, in the light of the EU White Paper on Communications Policy will also be looked at.
• This workshop is to be hosted in the framework of the Austrian Presidency of the EU.

The 1 day workshop will consist of 3 sessions:

    *     Strategies & activities to reconnect citizens and parliament
    *     Reconnecting citizens - national and European
    *     Practical steps and Future strategies

9:30-10:00	Registration (Austrian Parliament, Dr. Karl Renner-Ring 3, A-1017 Vienna, Main Entrance)
10:00-12:30	Strategies & activities to (re)connect citizens and parliament Moderator: Günther Schefbeck, Austrian Parliament Introduction by: Günther Schefbeck, Austrian Parliament ¡§Parliament strategies & activities to communicate with civil society¡¨:Presentation from each parliament. Discussion: Key questions: What are the precise problems parliaments are trying to address (and how have parliaments identified & quantified these challenges)? What lessons have already been learnt about different communication approaches, and what results exist?
12:30-14:00	Lunch
14:00-15:45	Connecting with citizens - at the national and European levels Moderator: Bridie Nathanson, EPRI Project Partner Overview of challenges faced by national parliaments, in undertaking Europe-related debates. Presentation of the EC ¡¥Period of Reflection¡¦ and current activities and proposals, Marc Fähndrich, European Commission, Vienna European Parliament perspective on proposed EC activities, Wolfgang Hiller, European Parliament office, Vienna. Discussion: Focusing on the relevance, feasibility and likely success of the proposed activities in the member states¡¦ national setting.
15:45-16:00	Coffee break
16:00-17:45	Practical steps and Future strategies Moderator: Günther Schefbeck, Austrian Parliament "Interest, Information and Image: The Parliament in Public Opinion", Peter A. Ulram, Research manager, Fessel-GFK  ¡§New dimensions of communicating online: Weblogs & other social software¡¨,Michael Goriany Discussion Key questions: Towards a common understanding of "dialogue and (re)connection with citizens"; How can parliaments assist each other in moving forward, individually and together, in 're-connecting' with their citizens? What support is needed, and what is the appropriate forum to do this?
17:45-18:00	Summary and closing remarks by moderator

Name	Function	Institution
Mr. Günther Schefbeck	Head of Parliamentary Documentation Department	Austrian Parliament
Mr.Wolfgang Engeljehringer	Head of the Competence Center ¡§E-Law¡¨	Austrian Parliament
Ms. Elisabeth Schindler-Müller	Content Manager	Austrian Parliament
Ms.Brigitte Berger	Deputy Content Manager	Austrian Parliament
Mr. Wolfgang Hiller	Deputy Head of the Information Office	Representation of the European Parliament, Austria
Mr.Marc Fähndrich	Deputy Head of the Representation Office in Vienna	Representation of the European Commission, Austria
Mr.André Grenacs	Advisor in the Legal Department of the House	House of Representatives, Belgium
Mr.Tomas Bartovsky	Official, Parliamentary Institute	Parliament, Czech Republic
Mr.Aivar Jarne	Head of Press Service of the Riigikogu	Riigikogu, Estonia
Ms.Katalin Balazs	Legal Advisor	National Assembly, Hungary
Mr.Richard Caffrey	Clerk Assistant of the Dáil, Director of House Services    Dáil Éireann,	Houses of the Oireachtas, Ireland
Mr.Leo Bollins	Principal Clerk, Head of eDemocracy Unit	Houses of the Oireachtas, Ireland
Mr.Victor Pires da Silva	Head of the Citizens Information Centre and Public Relations Division	Assembly of the Repulic, Portugal
Ms.Monica - Mihaela Stirbu	Deputy in the Romanian Parliament, Secretary in the Committee for information technologies and communication	Chamber Of Deputies, Romania
Ms.Laura Rites	Consellor for Parliament Relation	Ministry of Comunications and InformationTehnology, Romania
Ms.Maria Hluchanova	Director of the Acting President Secretariat's	National Council, Slovak Republic
Mr.Miroslav Sarissky	Director of the Public Relations Department	National Council, Slovak Republic
Mr.Anton Kokalj	M.P., Chairman of the Committee on EU Affairs	National Assembly, Slovenia
Ms.Maria Jose Galvez Salvador	Deputy Chief Of Cabinet	Congress Of Deputies, Spain
Mr.Bengt Eriksson	Information Officer	Sveriges Riksdag, Sweden
Mr.Jos  W.M.M.J. Hessels	Member of Parliament	Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal, The Netherlands
Mr.André Van der Meer	Chief Information Officer	Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal, The Netherlands
Mr.Robert Wilson	Deputy Head of the Committee Office	House of Commons, United Kingdom
Mr.Peter Ulram	Research Manager Custom Research	Fessel-GfK Institut für Marktforschung Ges.m.b.H.
Mr.Michael Goriany	Social Software Expert
Ms.Bridie Nathanson	EPRI Secretariat	EPRI Partner, Polpit Ltd, Belgium
Ms.Benedikte Buhl	EPRI Secretariat	EPRI Partner, Polpit Ltd, Belgium
Ms.Sabrina Cano Morales	EPRI Secretariat	EPRI Partner, Polpit Ltd, Belgium
Ms.Sandra Himmel	EPRI Secretariat	EPRI Partner, TSA, Germany
Mr.Klemens Gutmann	EPRI Secretariat	EPRI Partner, TSA, Germany

¡§Parliament strategies & activities to communicate with civil society¡¨: - Presentation from each of the parliaments represented.

Austria,
European Parliament,
Belgium (House of Representatives),
Czech Republic (Parliament),
Estonia,
Hungary,
Ireland (House of Oireachtas),
Portugal,
Romania (Chamber of Deputies),
Slovakia (National Council),
Slovenia,
Spain (Congress of Deputies),
Sweden,
The Netherlands (Tweede Kamer der Staten- Generaal),
Uk (House of Commons)

Executive summary
On April 24th 2006 representatives from 14 different parliaments around Europe1 met in the Austrian Parliament at the second EPRI workshop.

• The aim of this workshop was to stimulate discussion and exchange experiences among countries in their efforts to re-connect with citizens.
• The starting point was the obvious evidence – from statistics – that citizen engagement in both national and European politics has been decreasing in the last years.
• A number of activities and strategies to re-connect with citizens were reported by participants but as the discussion session showed, parliaments still have a number of questions they need to address in their pursue to reconnect with citizens and make parliamentary work attractive to them.
  

• Issues regarding citizens’ disengagement are being addressed by all parliaments but only few have an explicit strategy for engaging citizens in political affairs
• The key objectives and focus of parliaments activities, in an attempt to ‘connect’ with their citizens are: Transparency & openness - Raising awareness of, and interest in, parliament - Listening and consulting with citizens.
• Despite an obvious transition from traditional to “wired” parliaments, virtual tools do not replace the physical ones, as there is a need to keep them both
• Assessment of activities is not systematically done Only a few indicators and/or measurement tools for assessment of activities exist (e.g. number of visits to parliaments, number of petitions, webpage hits), thus.
• EU dimension is being addressed by all participating countries parliaments, but tends to be a low priority. The main challenge for parliaments, seems to be the lack of knowledge and understanding but also and to a certain extent, interest in EU affairs both inside and outside national parliaments as well as trust issues amongst citizens.

• the nature of the information
• the role of the institution
• the management of media

• Background reading- Feedback from Parliaments on a preparatory Questionnaire (pdf)
• White paper on a European Communication Policy (pdf)
  
• Open letter sent to the European Commission eGovernment Unit by Members of the EPRI community in response to the e-government Ministerial Conference (pdf)
• Conclusion 1st Workshop (pdf)

• Engaging interest Groups in decision- making processes, PRAXIS Center for Policy Studies, Tallinn 2004 (zip.file)
  
• Connecting Parliament with the Public: Paper from the House of Commons Board of Management, House of Commons Select Committee on Modernisation of the House ofCommons, November 2005 ( pdf)
  
• An audit for political engagement 3, The Electoral Commission, Hansard Society, 2006 (pdf)
  

EPRI Secretariat
Mrs. Benedikte Buhl
Polpit Ltd.
190 Rue du Trone
1050 Bruxelles
Tel:+322 644 3777
Fax: +322 644 3775
Email: benedikte@polpit.com 
ƒnWeb: www.epri.org