Engaging the European Public

Event organised by the European Parliament Liaison Office in Malta in the run to the European Elections in 2024

On June 23, Europe Direct Valletta participated in the event ‘Engaging the European Public’ organised by the European Parliament Liaison Office in Malta.

The aim of this event was to engage different local stakeholders in a discussion regarding the upcoming European Parliament elections in June 2024. This was an opportunity for local information providers, youths and NGOs to provide their feedback directly on what they would like the European Parliament to be doing in the coming year.

Dr Mario Sammut, the Head of the European Parliament Liaison Office in Malta officially opened the event and welcomed the attendees. The main speaker of the event was Mr Stephen Clark, Director of the European Parliament Liaison Offices in Europe, who provided a brief overview of his work at the European Parliament and highlighted the importance of the parliament engaging directly with citizens in the run up to the elections. Mr Clark emphasised the importance of citizens exercising their right to vote and to have their representatives elected in the European Parliament to voice their concerns on European issues. Accompanying Mr Clark was Mr Lorenzo Vella, the Head of the European Commission Representation in Malta, who took the opportunity to highlight the local context as well as issues that may be hindering more citizens from applying across all Member States.

Following these interventions, a panel discussion was held on the role of local information providers, with the participation of Joe Sciberras, Manager of Europe Direct Valletta, Daniel Borg, CEO of the Gozo Business Chamber, and the Director of the Institute for European Studies of the University of Malta, Prof. Mark Harwood. During this discussion the respective information providers highlighted their achievements in engaging with their respective target audiences, whilst also noting the main challenges and obstacles they face in the local context with respect to engaging the public on European matters such as the upcoming elections.

This panel discussion was followed by interventions from national stakeholders who have worked directly with the European Parliament Liaison Office, namely Europe Direct Core Platform and Nature Trust Malta. In addition, the former Vice-President of KSU spoke about the organisation’s experience in benefitting from the European Parliament Engagement Grants.

Throughout the event, different stakeholders in attendance had the opportunity to directly address Mr Clark and voice their concerns as well as provide suggestions on how the European Parliament can engage more effectively with citizens in the Member States.