When seventy-eight-year-old Italian Gemma Defendini told her daughter that someone from the European Union had called her and invited her to Brussels to debate hatred in society, Eleonora just shook her head.
But in the end it turned out to be no scam. A few weeks later, her daughter accompanied her from the seaside town of Golfo Aranci in Sardinia to Brussels, where former businesswoman Defendini discussed how to solve the rise of hatred in the European Union.
The European Commission really invited a random retired businesswoman. Like many other Europeans, her phone rang until 150 people were willing to come. In this way, Europeans, including Slovaks, could participate in various so-called European panel discussions of citizens to debate whether .
Similar meetings have been held since 2021, when the Conference on the Future of the European Union began. This is how the Union responds to criticism that it is detached from the people. Gemma participated in a panel about . Its increase is not only a topic in Slovakia, but across the whole of Europe.
The story of this panel is mapped by a short documentary film, People-Driven Politics: Fighting Hate in Society, which can be viewed online for free after registration.
My friends told me that they would steal my kidney
The phone also rang for 28-year-old Martin Bednár. The actor from Bratislava, who also works as a drag queen under the pseudonym Madrid, had never heard of European civil panel discussions before, and all his friends told him that it was definitely a scam.
“Some friends convinced me until the last moment that I was stupid to respond to such an invitation and travel abroad for it. They made jokes about me that they would like me even without a kidney,” he laughs. However, Martin honestly checked every email he received and all the phone numbers that called him.
“Something told me that if someone in Brussels wanted to get a kidney illegally, they would probably shake someone’s head, they wouldn’t send plane tickets to a Slovak,” says Martin Madrid Bednár with insight.
In April of this year, he finally found himself in the conference room of the European Commission headquarters in the so-called European Quarter of Brussels, together with dozens of other people from all over the Union, who also decided to respond to a perhaps strange-sounding phone call.
It was a moral obligation
After being welcomed, they were divided into groups of twelve people, in which they discussed and created their own solutions to the problem of hatred in society. They were accompanied throughout the debate by facilitators, i.e. experts in leading the discussion, and translators, so that each participant could communicate in his mother tongue.
Later, they also spoke to the Knowledge and Information Committee clinical psychologist Arun Mansukhani on the topic. “I’ve noticed that at first it’s hard for people to start talking about a topic, but after a while they get involved, especially when it comes to personal experiences,” says Mansukhani in the documentary People-Powered Politics.
“It’s very interesting because it makes the debate realistic: people don’t just say politically correct things, that is, things they think they should say in this environment, but they connect with their feelings and start thinking about what they think they should have been European policies,” adds the clinical psychologist.
Martin Madrid Bednár also shared his personal experience. He himself belongs to LGBTI+ people and also knew Matúš Horváth and Juraj Vankulič, who were murdered by a terrorist in front of the Bratislava gay bar Tepláreň in 2022. He had a hard time coping with the loss of friends and the absurd escalation of intolerance in Slovak society.
The topic of the fight against hatred was therefore close to him and he considered it his moral duty to bring the topics of queer people into the panel discussion. Martin’s story also became a part of the mentioned documentary, which thanks to him also looked into the guts of the queer community in Slovakia.
“Many people from abroad had no idea what was happening in Slovakia. So I used my voice to speak for us and ask for help. The topic of the rights of LGBTI+ people is still being downplayed, even in many countries where the conditions are significantly better,” explains Martin Bednár, who adds that this topic was far from the only one that was very important to him.
Europe is us
The meeting made him feel like a real European, and from talking to others on the panel he knows he’s not the only one. “We understood what the Union is really about. I sympathize with her, but I saw her more as a link between politicians across countries debating what is good for member countries and what is not. During this internship, we all understood that Europe is us.”
He also considers it very valuable that he was able to talk to other Europeans and, thanks to the translators, there was no language barrier between them. “It was a very valuable and non-transferable experience,” thinks Bednár.
However, the fact that he could present his views in the European Parliament was not the only added value of the meeting. Martin was also enchanted by the Belgian metropolis. “Brussels grew close to my heart during those few visits. I already understand why even politicians who shout that they are against some kind of Brussels ideology flock to it. It’s so good there that it’s better to yell at them from there,” he says with a smile.
Even a teacher can debate the EU economy
Slovak Zuzana Hozlárová, who was a delegate of the European dialogue with youth at the time, also took part in a similar panel. She currently works as an advisor for talent policies at the Research and Innovation Authority (VAIA).
In the years 2021 to 2022, she was also a civil delegate who represented Slovakia in the Conference on the Future of Europe. It was the first opportunity for ordinary Europeans to discuss directly within the structures of the Union what it should look like. The conference resulted in specific recommendations for EU representatives.
Zuzana Hozlárová was not brought to the civic panel by a random phone call. She was also chosen through a selection process as a youth delegate in the European dialogue. She was thus part of the entire process and communicated with randomly selected citizens.
“It could easily have happened there that a teacher from central Slovakia was debating the future of the economy of the European Union. MEPs and European Commissioners thus had a better overview of how ordinary people perceive European institutions and Europe’s problems. It is completely different from the perception of an MEP, who has been there for five or ten years, and from the perception of a citizen, who does not always understand how the complex processes of decision-making take place.”
Privilege for citizens
According to her, many citizens perceived it as a privilege to be able to express their opinion to people from European institutions. Their opinion could reach the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, regardless of their social status or education. However, many were skeptical about the results of the discussions. At the end of the panels, a document with recommendations for the Union is issued. According to Hozlárová, they do not remain only on paper.
“As soon as the Conference on the Future of the European Union ended, recommended proposals on the reform of the electoral system were adopted. Transnational female candidates were also discussed. People should be able to vote for candidates from the entire Union, not just from their own country. It would strengthen the European identity,” says Hozlárová.
The participants also suggested lowering the age limit for participation in elections to sixteen. “Now it is the turn of the member states to reflect on what is happening at the European level,” explains Hozlárová and claims that the member states could be more flexible.
The contact between the participants of the Conference on the Future of the EU did not end even after more than two years after its conclusion. “To this day, we are in contact and talk about which of our recommendations were mentioned by some MEPs, European Commissioners, or when they implemented what we recommended in some member state,” he adds.
People’s eyes were opened
Martin also believes that the panel makes sense and that its results will be put into practice. To this day, he follows the results of the meetings and sees that the departments of the European Commission work in line with the recommendations of their participants.
These were mainly the solution of social inequalities, which, according to people from the panel, cause a large part of hatred. They blamed the EU for not adequately addressing the social situation of citizens. The Union also wants to respond by examining more closely the relationship between social inequality and hatred.
According to data from the European Union, hateful toxicity, i.e. incitement to hatred, increased by 30 percent from January to September 2023. Slovak was also among the languages in which they recorded its increase.
More than half of respondents to a survey by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights experienced racial discrimination three times between 2022 and 2023. And one in three women has experienced physical or sexual violence at least once in her life.
It is questionable whether the Union will manage to better deal with the increase in hatred in society. However, the fact remains that at least the people on the panel itself had the opportunity to recognize otherness in various forms – different generations, people of different ethnicities, different sexual orientations and religions discussed together.
“Based on the reactions I received on the spot, I dare to say that I felt that many people’s eyes were opened to the topics I brought to the discussion. So it made sense for me,” says Madrid Bednár. Hozlárova perceives it similarly and highlights the power of the citizen’s voice. “Whoever comes can give feedback to the highest officials of the Union. And that’s amazing,” he concludes.
