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Brief Intro

The European Capital of Democracy is a Europe-wide initiative to innovate and strengthen democracy. Starting in 2023, each year, a different city is selected as European Capital of Democracy by our Citizens’ Jury – a community of more than 5,500 citizens from all Council of Europe Member States and Kosovo. Together with its citizens, the title-holding City curates, organises and hosts a variety of activities that strengthen local democracy. Visitors from all over Europe – politicians, experts, civil society actors, artists, citizens and media representatives – are invited to take part in the initiative and make the city a stage for democratic innovation.

Media relations

Fatima Kirsch

Head of Communicatios
ECoD gemeinnützige GmbH

fk@capitalofdemocracy.eu
+43 660 7955 921

Finalists for The Innovation in Politics Awards 2025

The Innovation in Politics Awards are proud to reveal the finalists of this year’s edition. From hundreds of submissions, a …
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ACT NOW Mayors’ Conference Concludes with Vienna Declaration to Drive Local Climate Action 

More than 200 mayors, heads of international organisations, municipal leaders, young innovators, and sustainability experts gathered in the Austrian capital …
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ECoD joins forces with the European Citizen Action Service

We are happy to share that European Capital of Democracy has been accepted as a Governing Member of the European …
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25 ECoD | ECN Meeting Cascais

The European City Network gathered together for our first meeting of 2025 in the beautiful seaside city of Cascais, Portugal …
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Cascais designated as European Capital of Democracy 2026

In a two-stage selection process involving Experts’ Jurors and over 4,500 citizens from over 47 countries …
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OUR CLIMATE PROTECTION IMPACT: 31,670 KG CO2 OFFSET SINCE 2024

As of January 24, 2025, we are proud to report that we have compensated 31,670 kg of CO2 emissions through …
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Three cities shortlisted for European Capital of Democracy 2026

Cascais, Rotterdam, and Sofia have been shortlisted by the Experts’ Jury following a comprehensive evaluation process. The three cities compete …
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ECoD joins ScaleDem in bringing the implementation gap in democratic innovations

Officially launched on 5 December 2024, the ScaleDem project focuses on connecting research outcomes with societal needs in democratic innovations …
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Five Cities compete for the title of the European Capital of Democracy 2026

Following a successful first Programme Year in Barcelona, which welcomed over 20,000 participants, hosted 100 events, and facilitated two participatory …
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Vienna Begins Its Role as European Capital of Democracy 2024/25 

Kick-off for Vienna’s Democracy Year: Citizens Invited to Actively Participate – New Funding Programme Starts in 2025   Vienna has been named …
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Barcelona Wraps Up Term as Europe’s First Democracy Capital

The closing ceremony, held at the Smart City Expo World Congress, passed the European Capital of Democracy title from Barcelona …
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Barcelona and Vienna – A Joint Statement on Democratic Innovation

At the closing event of the Programme Year of the first European Capital of Democracy Barcelona, both cities came together to sign …
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The press kit contains ECoD Flyer, ECoD NPO, Innovation in Politics Institute and City Network factsheets, CI/CD-Guidelines, Programme visualisation and ECoD logos.

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