EU-CIEMBLY at The Cyprus Forum 2025: Dr. Anastasia Karatzia discusses the need for more inclusive democratic participation
In October 2025, EU-CIEMBLY researcher Dr. Anastasia Karatzia (University of Essex) participated in a panel discussion at the Cyprus Forum, an event sponsored by ASPON Consulting Ltd. Her intervention focused on the project’s ongoing work to develop and test innovative approaches for designing more inclusive and intersectionality-oriented forms of democratic participation, such as citizens’ assemblies.
Dr. Karatzia highlighted how citizens’ assembly design and practices can be informed by intersectionality to account for the lived experiences of people who sit at the intersection of multiple forms of marginalisation. She explained the aim of the EU-CIEMBLY project to contribute to this objective by integrating the principles of intersectional inclusion, equality, and good deliberation into the design of such assemblies.
During the discussion, Dr. Karatzia discussed the plans of the project to hold a Cyprus Citizens’ Assembly in April 2026, which will mark the first initiative of its kind in Cyprus. The Assembly will bring together people from various paths of life to learn, deliberate, and provide recommendations on the housing challenges faced by Cypriot residents and especially people from marginalised groups.
By grounding assemblies in real political and social contexts, EU-CIEMBLY seeks not only to improve existing democratic practices but also to generate practical, evidence-based recommendations for policymakers and practitioners across Europe and at the level of the European Union.
The session at the Cyprus Forum provided an opportunity to introduce the project’s work to a wider public audience and to highlight the relevance of intersectionality-informed democratic innovation at a time when Europe faces increasing pressures on equality, participation, and representation.
Video
For further details about the Cyprus Forum, please visit the website here.
