Abstract
The European Union celebrates its thirty years anniversary in a peculiar historical moment characterized by crises and emergencies. Being able to count on an informed and active citizenship becomes increasingly necessary. Universities, schools and institutions are teaming up in order to propose projects for sharing information about and promoting the European Union involving all its citizens. Young people, in particular, are identified among the first interlocutors, to whom we entrust communication between peers, exploiting the potential of digital media. In a context often dominated by fake-news, complete and source-aware information about the European Union becomes an essential tool for citizens' empowerment. This article proposes a reflection starting from a multi-sited research conducted in the Italian cities of Bologna, Forlì and Ravenna through a project of the University of Bologna and the Emilia-Romagna Region entitled "Promoting active European citizenship in times of crisis". Through participant observation, the article reflects on the results emerged from word-cafés, workshops and meetings with citizens developed in three different territorial areas and with the involvement of three different targets: first and second grade high school students, university students and adult citizens.
 
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Highlights
European citizenship is approaching its thirty years anniversary perhaps in one of the most uncertain and difficult moments for the European Union
The migration crisis has shown a weak solidarity between the Member States which, failing to find an agreement on a possible solution for modifying the Dublin regulation, have allowed a security approach to prevail; Brexit and its deep causes and consequences has demonstrated the fragility of EU institutions and the diversity of visions and future perspectives of the Member States; the climate and environmental crisis, an overall priority that led to the adoption of the Green New Deal, launched by Ursula von den Leyen; last but not least the health COVID-19 crisis that has been straining Member States and European citizens since the beginning of 2020
How should Member States re-activate and consolidate European citizenship? How could European citizens, especially the youngest, become “information multipliers”? Should they consider themselves gatekeepers of “"good and correct" news in an era of crisis and fake news? Is peer-to-peer communication still effective when it comes to the European Union and its opportunities?
Summary
The starting point of this research is the project "Promoting active European citizenship in times of crisis", co-financed by the Italian Region Emilia-Romagna and the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the University of Bologna. This article examines how initiatives aimed at the dissemination of information on European issues could foster active citizenship, turning citizens into "allies of institutions" (Arena 2006). In this sense, information becomes an empowerment tool (Rappaport 1987), a process through which the individuals, the organizations and the overall community could gain more power and more control over individual and common issues
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