Despite conflictual past experiences, cross-border flows and intercultural engagement have become a part of many citizens’ everyday life in border regions, therefore considered as laboratories of the European integration. However, those have not been spared by the rise of populism and the growth of Euroscepticism. So how can we encourage civil society in border regions to participate in the debate on the future of Europe?
This is the core question of the project TEIN4citizens, co-financed by the Europe for Citizens programme. With this question in mind and their deep knowledge of the borders’ specificities, the members of the Transfrontier Euro-Institut Network (TEIN) started to develop the Engaging civil society in cross-border regions for the future of Europe project. Consisting of 5 forums taking place in the 5 border regions, the project enables citizens not only to deepen their understanding of the EU but also voice their opinion about current trends and EU policy making processes such as border security & Schengen, multilingualism & identity, EU citizenship & Human rights, EU Twin cities & civil society, and minorities & integration.
