Vice-Presidents Věra Jourová and Dubravka Šuica, as well as Commissioner Mariya Gabriel underlined the importance of the new centre for the EU to be able to include citizen input into the policy cycle. They referred to the Conference on the Future of Europe as an ongoing example of citizen engagement. Practitioners and policy makers discussed how the centre can strengthen citizen engagement and advance participatory and deliberative democracy across the Commission, other EU Institutions, as well as Member States and their regions. Participants shared their own experiences and practices. FRA referred to its engagement with its civil society network, the Fundamental Rights Platform.