The European Local Democracy Week at the World Forum for Democracy – Strasbourg 5-11 October 2012

On 7 October, information material about the ELDW was distributed during the Conference of INGOs on "Inclusive democracy". It was the first contribution to the annual European Local Democracy week by the international network of the Council of Europe representing the NGOs.

On 9 October, the European Local Democracy Week was presented on the celebration day of the 10th anniversary of the Club of Strasbourg in the City Hall, focused on citizens’ participation methods. The Congress President Keith Whitmore opened the meeting, while the Director Antonella Cagnolati took part in the debate.
Representatives from different European towns exchanged their views and experiences of engaging citizens, in order to make this useful tool for representative democracies as effective as possible. In this context the Congress presented the European Local Democracy Week as a tool able to improve citizens' participation in local life in an increasing number of communities every year.

On 10 October, a conference on "The challenges of sustainable democracy in the Southern Mediterranean countries" took place in Place Kléber (Strasbourg). Antonella Cagnolati presented the neighbourhood policy of the Congress. Various observers of the 2011 Arab spring were present during the meeting, among them, mayors and local councillors from Morocco and Tunisia. Some of them organized, for the first time, the ELDW in their cities with a great success and high citizen participation. According to them, the ELDW is a participatory tool competent to be even more exploited.