Brussels-City wins bid to become European Capital of Democracy

The City of Brussels has been officially named the “European Capital of Democracy” this week, a title it will hold for one year.

The distinction recognises "cities that create meaningful opportunities for participation and democratic innovation".’

The Belgian capital joins the ranks of previous winners Barcelona, Vienna and the Portuguese town of Cascais, and beat other short-list candidates Ankara and Denizli in Turkey.

In total, more than 5,500 European citizens from 46 countries cast their votes for Brussels.

As the European Capital of Democracy, the city will host a wide range of projects, debates and events on participation, dialogue and democratic innovation for a whole year.

Brussels submitted its application under the name “Brussels must be DemoCrazy”, denouncing the decline of democracy worldwide and positioning itself in the spotlight as "the capital of the free world and a pioneer of innovative democracy".

At the end of January, mayor Philippe Close (PS) and alderman for citizen participation Frederik Ceulemans (Anders) welcomed a panel of experts for a tour of a series of projects focusing on local democracy and participation.

At a town hall and in various neighbourhoods, local stakeholders, residents and associations provided an insight into their participatory activities.

This local dynamism first secured Brussels a place on the shortlist and ultimately also convinced the European citizens’ jury.

According to Close and Ceulemans, cities are “champions of freedom” for democratic principles.

“Democracy is shaped not only in parliaments or at the European level, but above all in neighbourhoods, public spaces and town halls,” said Ceulemans.

The award is for the municipality of Brussels-City, not the wider Brussels region, which famously went more than 600 days without a fully functioning government until earlier this year.