A new civic consultation on freedom of speech and the use of public funds by the European Union has already gathered over 5,000 responses. The survey—launched by Patriots for Europe (PfE) MEPs and available at this link—aims to gather citizens’ views on critical issues such as the financing of media outlets and NGOs aligned with the dominant ideology in Brussels, as well as the growing interference of the European Commission in the internal affairs of member states under the pretext of “protecting democracy.”
The initiative was launched in response to an official consultation by the European Commission as part of its ‘European Democracy Shield’ project.
Portuguese MEP and PfE vice-chair Tânger Corrêa spearheads the alternative survey—simple, accessible, and non-ideological—, initiated to offer European citizens a real opportunity to participate. “The European Union makes decisions that affect both our daily lives and yours. That is why we have launched this civic questionnaire about what the European Union should be. It is essential to counterbalance biased ideas and the surveys conducted by the Commission itself,” Corrêa stated.
The civic consultation has also received public support from other European parliamentarians such as Branko Grims (European People’s Party) and Virginie Joron (Patriots for Europe), who have promoted the initiative on social media, as well as from national MPs in Portugal. The initiative has two key goals: first, to gather independent data that more accurately reflects public opinion; and second, to significantly surpass the participation levels of the official consultation—a target that is already being achieved.
