Maximilian Fries | Executive Director Europe Calling e.V.
Interview given to Ms Maria Louisa Vafiadaki
-What is Europe Calling, how did you come up with the idea and what are your key milestones ?
We are a small NGO organizing large scale European webinars in multiples languages with 1,000 – 10.000 participants on Zoom. We have done 155 episodes so far and have reached 175.000 citizens from Europe and all over the world. To our knowledge, we are the biggest transnational European webinar format.
At Europe Calling, our goal is to build a European transnational civic space. We bring people from all over Europe to discuss with scientists, experts and society, bring ideas in a digital space and talk about key issues which affect us all.
It all started, when back in 2017 I was working for Green Member of the European Parliament Sven Giegold who brought European discussions to the German audience by using webinars. That is how Europe Calling was created. I organized 114 webinars with him and this was his political format. When he became state secretary in the German Federal Ministry for Economy and Climate Action, we transformed Europe Calling into the independent NGO it is today (https://europe-calling.de/en/about/).
We did a crowd funding campaign with people who had participated in a webinar before and got 1087 (https://europe-calling.de/en/founding-patrons/) founding patrons who give us 5-10 Euros per month.
While we started this dialogue for only German audiences, we are not trying to bring European citizens together and create this European public sphere using professional interpreters.
-Do you focus on specific topics ?
I would say that our topics are mostly based on the environment, the ecological-social transformation, climate justice and democracy and how we can strengthen it.
If you look at the European political space, there are big interest groups have a strong and well-funded voice and do lobbying for industry and business for example. However, there aren’t many citizen lobbies. Apart from the elections, it is hard for ordinary citizens to raise their voice, connect and form a network across borders. At Europe Calling, we invite decision makers from the European Commission, the European Parliament as well as national decision makers to allow citizens to engage and increase the accountability.
We are a growing community of 175.000 citizens and our vision is to create transparency in political processes. We, as citizens, can get involved and make the democratic process better. We need citizen lobbies for that. It is interesting that when we invite EU commission members, for instance, they are open to hear out ordinary people and get a feeling of what they think across Europe.
What we want to do is improve the democratic process. In the digital age more than ever, it is key to counter disinformation. We want to bring scientists, experts and society together, take the time to listen to a lecture and distribute out the information they provide. We also strive empower citizens. People need the time to understand issues and power structures.. Complexity is inherent and we want to show how one can fit in as an ordinary citizen.
-What are your sources of funding ?
We are funded only through crowdfunding. As of now, more than 1,100 citizens regularly support us with 5-10 € per month. We don’t have constitutional funding, because we want to stay an independent, citizen-funded project. Sometimes, we cooperate with MEPs or other like-minded NGOs to share costs for interpretation which is very expensive (but worth every penny!).
-Are you affiliated with European political parties ?
We are not affiliated with a political party. However, we do work with members of parliament, and they are of course party affiliated. We have done webinars with green MEPs, but also with social democrats, liberals and conservatives.
This format has an opinion, as it is to strengthen democracy and enable a just-transition into a climate-neutral future.
-What would you say is the outcome of these webinars ?
Building a transnational community, the feeling of togetherness and a strong network. Creating and sharing knowledge about political processes, power structures and how citizens can engange with them. At times, we start petitions and promote campaigns of other, like-minded NGOs.
-In what ways do you think technology has enabled democracy ?
Greatly. The possibility of having calls with thousands of people across Europe and letting them share opinions is always an amazing experience! People normally don’t can’t do this. You might do that during your holidays or if you work in a multinational organization, but ordinary people can’t do that making them sometimes feel isolated in an otherwise highly connected Europe. The digital age has greatly transformed this.
However, technology that spreads disinformation, for instance, can also be a danger to democracy. We have a huge problem on social media. We want to play our part to make people aware and help to build momentum for a digital age that promotes democracy rather than weaken it. We use the digital world to spread information and battle disinformation.
-Please outline your key 3 highlights for 2023. What makes your NGO distinctive ?
There is no other format where thousands of people get together all over Europe- MEPs, scientists, experts- and generate discussion. People don’t normally interact with each other. For example, through Europe Calling, a Greek citizen can ask a German MEP a question about EU policy and exchange opinions on key matters.
Our main highlight was our first five-digit webinar when over 10,000 people came to discuss with the German vice-chancellor Robert Habeck on climate policy.
Also, working with a wonderful group of organisations in our “Power To The People” group continues to be an absolute highlight. This cooperation is truly transnational, including European Alternatives, European University Institute School of Transnational Governance, Europe Calling, Mehr Demokratie, Another Europe is Possible and Citizens Takeover Europe. Our last webinar on the cost-of-living crisis was fascinating (watchable here: https://europe-calling.de/en/webinar/power-to-the-people-cost-of-living/)
-How can one support you and become involved in Europe Calling ?
We collect donations on our website and if you do a regular donation, you become one of our patrons and can send us topics & suggestions on key topics to be discussed, next actions etc. Our patrons basically participate in shaping the story of our community. Become a patron here: https://europe-calling.de/en/patrons/
Also, we have a mailing list for everyone who wants to stay informed (www.Europe-calling.de)
-What are your main goals ?
In 2023, we want to grow both the number of citizens we reach as well become more European strengthening the idea of a transnational civic space. To achieve this, we will need to raise more funds, because at the moment it is just enough for one full-time employee (me) which severely limits what we can do.
-How do you measure your impact and what is your biggest challenge until today ?
We measure our impact by the growth rate of our organic community, how many of them attend regularly and by the number of patrons who support us financially. We also connect actions like a petition or a mail-in campaign to MEPs with our events. Seeing people taking positive action after our events is fantastic.
I would say our biggest challenge is the larger you grow, the more difficult it is to remain interactive and give citizens the possibility to engage directly. To this end, we are starting to use AI tools to help us comprehend the often 100s of citizen questions during a webinar in real-time. Another challenge is to reach citizens who are not already involved in political discussions as we don’t only want to create discussion with political activists. So, getting out of our bubble can be quite tough. Finally, getting young people to engage is a mission for us as well.
Thank you.