According to a new democratic right, established in 2015, any EU citizen, together with commonly concerned neighbors, can launch an initiative to be brought before the European Commission. Any EU citizen has a mechanism at their disposal, through which EU policy and legislation could be influenced according to their concerns. The European Citizens’ Initiative is…
Some political parties not respecting silence
According to non-anonymous reports to Gong, the election morning went by peacefully with few reports about irregularities. The majority of reports were related to violations of election silence on social media, where specific political parties and candidates are posting paid ads (Živi zid, HSP). Additionally, SMS and messages on social media (SDP, IDS, Narodna stranka-reformisti)…
Ads are not labeled as political, and some don’t even appear
The election campaign for the European Parliament in 2019 was the first election campaign in which we have had a somewhat better insight into a political advertisement on social media, especially on Facebook. In accordance to the promise of increasing transparency in advertising which Facebook has given to the European Union, the campaign has provided…
Citizenship education still without any improvement
A new intersubject programme of citizenship education does not bring any improvements. Civil society has been replaced by community, nationalism has been inserted in places where it does not even fit the context and with everything we are seeing, the young are still being raised to be subjects, not citizens. The decision on adopting the…
Public fact-checking event: Approachable EU
Croatia will not introduce Euro until at least 2023. Voter turnout for European Parliament elections is low, especially among the youth. The biggest threat for the future of the EU might not be euroscepticism, but “euro-indifference”. Those are answers to some of the questions asked on Gong’s Europe Day event. How much is Croatia contributing…
European populism, democracy and participation
European politics in recent years has been concerned with the rise and popularity of populism, especially among younger generations. Populist political options – it is argued – are gaining unprecedented success and are beginning to pose a systemic threat to the well-being of all European democracies. These are the empirical facts, as much as they…