Despite the EU’s endeavours to present itself as a liberal democratic entity, critics point out the existence of a “democratic deficit“ both affecting EU institutions and citizens’ participation. According to this view, decision-making process within the EU lacks the complete control of the electorate, particularly because of the Parliament weakness. Moreover, European citizens have poor mechanisms for participation in the making and monitoring of policies at the EU level, and they suffer lack of complete information and debate.

The theory of deliberative democracy claims that democracy requires not only equality of votes, but also equal opportunity to participate in policy-related decision-making processes through deliberative bodies that should embody political equality, representation of informed opinions of the general public, and summon higher levels of citizen political participation.

EuroPolis attempts to contribute to restoring the democratic legitimacy of EU’s decisions by increasing citizen political engagement in EU politics. Citizens can be brought back to the public sphere by becoming engaged in thoughtful deliberation that aims at solving common problems.

In doing so EuroPolis allows to:

• explore how deliberation and discussion shape policy preferences during election periods
• measure how deliberation and discussion affect voting turnout and voting preferences in parliamentary elections
• link candidates and voters to examine how both actors are affected by open exchange of views in a multi-lingual and multinational environment.