The document discusses the status and future of eParticipation in Europe. It outlines the EU's agenda to promote citizen participation and empowerment through digital technologies. It finds that while many countries and initiatives have policies and programs for eParticipation, the use of social media and new technologies remains limited. It argues that governments should better support independent third parties, make participation frameworks more bottom-up, and unlock public data to optimize eParticipation over the next five years as the field expands beyond politics into governance, services, and community development.

1. EUROPEAN E-PARTICIPATION: STATUS AND REQUIREMENTS TO OPTIMISE FUTURE BENEFITS PEP-NET SUMMIT, Hamburg (DE), 23 September 2010 Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen

11. HOW TO OPTIMISE ePARTICIPATION (2) Governments/institutions should listen and provide frameworks for citizen participation from the bottom (but not control it) ENABLE Formalise and mainstream eParticipation as part of a coordinated ‘open engagement policy’ NECESSARY Establish and support independent, neutral, trusted 3rd parties GUARDIAN Citizen centricity EMPOWER Civil-servant centricity EMPOWER Unleash Public Sector Information for easy re-use machine-readable format KEY