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The Citizens' Assembly in Montenegro is an initiative facilitated by the European Parliament aimed at fostering inclusive and democratic decision-making processes by bringing together a diverse group of citizens to deliberate on how to fight corruption in their society. The Citizens' Assembly held in 2021-2022 provided an opportunity for individuals from various backgrounds to engage in meaningful conversations, exchange ideas, and work towards finding innovative solutions.

This initiative was also supported by the local NGOs Center for Democratic Transition (CDT) and the Center for Democracy and Human Rights (CEDEM) with a view to developing local capacities to carry out initiatives of deliberative democracy in Montenegro.
The public debate on 5 July was hosted by Vladimír Bilčík, Chair of the Delegation to the EU-Montenegro Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee, who discussed the results of this initiative with a distinguished panel of experts in the field.

Following the panel discussion, the participants, including members of your organization, had the opportunity to actively engage in the discussion, express their opinions, and contribute to the debate. The debate focused on key-questions like:

• What is the role and importance of deliberative citizens' assemblies in democratic decision-making processes
• How can deliberative citizens' assemblies ensure the inclusion and representation of diverse perspectives within society?
• What are the key benefits of deliberative citizens' assemblies compared to traditional forms of decision-making?

Securing Ukraine's capacity to conduct future post-war elections in a free, orderly, and transparent manner will be vital for the continued integrity of its democratic governance and for the success of its recovery and reconstruction. One key challenge lying ahead of Ukraine will be to ensure the voting rights and opportunities for its displaced citizens, many of whom will be casting their vote from outside of Ukraine.

To support Ukraine in conducting its future out-of-country voting process, International IDEA together with the European Parliament convened a Parliamentary Electoral Dialogue on Challenges and Needs for Holding Out-of-Country Voting for Ukraine's Post-War Elections, in Brussels, Belgium on 30-31 May 2023.

The event served to review good European practices and lessons in conducting out-of-country- voting, including a variety of voting practices such as postal voting and opening additional polling stations.

The event brought together high-level officials from Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Central Election Commission, the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and Ukraine's civil society, the electoral officials from electoral management bodies of member-states of the European Union, Members of the European Parliament and international organizations.

The two-day event hosted sessions dedicated to particular aspects of out-of-country voting, where representatives of EU member states were be invited to share their experiences. Such a dialogue also aids the CEC of Ukraine in enhancing its understanding of the situation of potential voters in countries of their current residence and helps to assess the scale of needs and resources required for the necessary future operations.
Please note that this event was held in person by individual invitation only.

Individuals noted on any UN sanctions list (United Nations Security Council Consolidated List) or European Union sanctions list were not allowed to participate in any International IDEA events.

On 29-30 November 2022, Members and key stakeholders across the democracy support community gathered at a high-level event entitled 'Supporting Parliamentary Democracy Worldwide: Building democratic resilience', organised by the Democracy Support and Election Coordination Group in the European Parliament in Brussels.

The conference, dedicated to the 10th anniversary of European Parliament's democracy support activities, was opened by President Roberta Metsola and brought together a number of high-level speakers, such as Dubravka Šuica, Vice-President of the European Commission, former President of the European Parliament Pat Cox, President of the Parliament of North Macedonia Talat Xhaferi, as well as Members of the European Parliament, representatives of the beneficiary parliaments from non-EU countries, Sakharov Prize laureates and human rights defenders and experts in democracy support to reflect upon the lessons-earned from the past ten years and stake out the way ahead in setting future priorities and development of the European Parliament's democracy support.

Two days of knowledge and experience sharing and debates focused on the European Parliament's work in the area of election observation, mediation, parliamentary support and capacity building, supporting and promoting human rights and engagement with the civil society and young leaders left also a room for informal meetings and high-level networking.
The conference was webstreamed and the recordings are available on links below.

MEPs set to put solidarity in action to empower parliamentarians facing serious dangers, including unfair criminal proceedings, intimidation and violence.

On 30 June, International Day of Parliamentarism, leading MEPs took stock of the global state of parliamentarians' rights in a live debate with Sarah Elago, an elected representative in the Philippines and victim of disinformation, as well as with representatives of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and Parliamentarians for Global Action.

MEPs and stakeholders got together online on 14-17 September to discuss how democracy is dealing with COVID-19 and the challenges it presents to democratic systems.

The COVID-19 pandemic threatens more than the lives and the livelihoods of people throughout the world. It is also a political crisis that represents a global challenge to democracy and reminds us that the freedoms we cherish are at risk and that we must defend them.

International Democracy Week consisted of a series of events and workshops on global democracy and the COVID-19 pandemic organised by the European Parliament and several non-governmental organisations, in order to highlight the repercussions of the current crisis on democracy and fundamental freedoms.

Prominent speakers

Featured speakers included European Parliament President David Sassoli (video message), European Commission Vice-President Věra Jourová and Swedish State Secretary to the Minister for International Development Cooperation Per Olsson Fridh, as well as heads of international organisations, parliamentarians, journalists, democracy and foreign policy experts and practitioners.

The Ukrainian filmmaker and writer Oleg Sentsov was awardedthe European Parliament's 2018 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought inStrasbourg on 12 December 2018.

An empty chair symbolised the laureate's absence. Sentsov, convicted by aRussian military court of plotting terrorist acts, has been imprisoned since2015.

A native of Crimea, the filmmaker had protested against the Russian occupationof the peninsula before his arrest.

Awarding the prize, European Parliament President Antonio Tajani called Sentsov"a symbol of the struggle for the release of political prisoners held inRussia and around the world".

Sentsov's cousin, Natalya Kaplan, and lawyer, Dmitri Dinze, accepted the awardon his behalf.

10 - 11 October 2018, Brussels

Through a series of panel debates, more than 400 participants - including MEPs, former heads of state, national parliamentarians, representatives of international organisations, election observers, donors and civil society - addressed the major challenges confronting electoral observation and the integrity of democratic elections.