In a time of electoral promises and party-centered politics, we ask: what would our democracies look like if we were more than mere voters? How can complex democracies listen to the voices of citizens on a permanent basis?

FIDE's Annual Meeting explored the boundaries of our existing democratic systems. The European Elections campaign is an opportunity to imagine new ways of engaging in public decisions. Votes are exclusionary, they reduce citizens’ priorities to the most salient and polarizing issues. Deliberative Democracy, as a concept and practice, enriches representative democracies by enabling a more inclusive and continuous engagement of citizens. It opens avenues for people to contribute to policymaking beyond the periodic act of voting. This approach acknowledges that citizens' views are diverse and complex, and it seeks to accommodate this diversity in political decision-making.

The is not on fleeting electoral promises but on sustainable, tangible actions and real-world examples of how deliberation and participation are being integrated into democratic systems across Europe. These examples serve as seeds of hope and inspiration, demonstrating that change is not only possible but already happening.