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This is the one billion euro question at the moment which was discussed when I was in Barcelona University on 31 May and 1 June to speak at an EU event on “European citizenship in challenging times”. I was there together with lots of civil society organizations involved in cross-country activities. “Challenging times”? It is true that the signals sent to Brussels by some citizens at the moment are questioning current EU policies; the results of the recent referendum in the Netherlands asked the Dutch Government to revise an EU-Ukraine agreement and in almost three weeks UK citizens will go to cast their vote to remain in or leave the EU. If you add to this the consequences of the financial crisis and the high levels of unemployment, poverty and inequalities, it’s hard to deny that this is a challenging period for Europe.

How can we fix it? What came out strongly from the event in Barcelona was a clear demand to listen better to people’s needs as Antonella Valmorbida from the European Association for Local Democracy (ALDA) clearly pointed out during our second day. It was also important for me that throughout the two days several interventions mentioned the need to include the diversity of people in Europe. EU identity is in reality very complex, and the participation of people with diverse backgrounds should be fostered so that we can define together what European Identity means – if it exists at all. The philologist and writer GraŻyna Plebanek suggested that this could include people of African origin, people coming from western and eastern European countries, and also people coming from outside the EU. This is why at Social Platform we are always careful to talk about “people” and not “citizens”. Participation should include all people, especially those who are often excluded from our societies.

Participation is not only a slogan. It is also a practice. This is why I gave up half of my speaking time to allow for more interventions from other participants. The solutions to bring Europe out of these “challenging times” are not hidden in the European Commission, nor the European Parliament; nor national governments; they can be found by involving people most impacted by the EU’s policies. What kind of EU do they want and how should we collectively go about implementing change? I think our member European Disability Forum best summed up this sentiment with their slogan, “nothing about us without us”.

This difference of approaches – doing for people instead of doing with people – was clearly reflected in the session on “protection” of people’s right in which I took part. A Commission representative stated that “rights are there for all citizens”. To which I replied “yes they are there, but for whom?” Many speakers and participants agreed that rights provided by the Union were directed to people and businesses who are already successful (and who need passport-free borders, consumer rights abroad, less administrative burden when moving abroad or access to courts when abroad) – but so many of us are not travelling but staying in our home country. On the contrary, people in vulnerable situations see a negative impact brought by some EU rules.

The EU needs some self-reflection and to accept that its policies do not always support people living in Europe, especially the most vulnerable. In some cases the EU’s actions are even perceived as a threat, such as the threat to social rights posed by austerity measures.

Civil society has a strong role to play in making sure the needs of people in Europe are fully represented. This is why I was pleased to hear commitment from all sides that the “Europe for Citizens” programme would continue to empower civil society organisations like Social Platform to ensure that we create a Europe that works for its people, and not the other way around.