Decision day with Sofie
I am Sofie and today I am in Eberswalde, in Brandenburg, about 40km from Berlin.
40,000 people live in this city.
Everyone over 14 - whether or not they have a German passport - has the opportunity
to vote on the citizens' budget today.
Citizens' budget means that the residents themselves decide how the city should spend its money.
They develop their own proposals and vote on them. And these are then also implemented.
In Eberswalde we are talking about 100,000€ per year.
That sounds like a lot of money! But it is only 0.6% of the budget that the city generally spends on investments.
So €2.50 per inhabitant.
Now we are standing in the town hall.
Each of these vases represents a proposal for how people want to change their city.
We apply for a grant for an honorary position to the "Waggon-Komödianten" e.V.
We want to purchase a tent for the THW Youth Eberswalde.
We are for the construction of a cultural site by the Save Your Culture Association.
Full of cool project ideas that are examined by the city's specialist departments.
A valid proposal must not cost more than 15,000 euros.
Of course, the proposal must be implementable by the city.
Everyone promotes their own proposal. All proposals are published in this Official Journal.
Hello, what can I do here?
Every person in Eberswalde who is entitled to vote receives 5 voting tokens from us,
which they can then put in the various vases over in the hall and thus vote for various proposals.
Since last year, you can also vote online in advance.
What do live music and socks have to do with the citizens' budget?
It's about making the process attractive, so that you encourage participation.
If people can simply submit a proposal, if the voting process is simple,
it is of course also part of it that you use modern communication and offer fun activities.
What happens to the selected proposals?
What the people of Eberswalde decide will be implemented afterwards. There is no longer a back door.
Politicians can no longer change the decisions. The proposals are implemented as they are.
That sounds great! To check it out, we met last year's winners.
And so you won that?
Yes, we think it's great that we won. The 15,000 euros came very easily.
Now we can easily present our fire brigade with the beach flags, the pavilion or the stand-up tables.
What did the last citizens' budget change for your association?
The biggest change for our association has been that our visibility has increased enormously.
We could almost triple our membership and are at about 70 members now.
And one year later, we can present ourselves here and make an offer.
I am now meeting with Finn-Eric from the youth association Wolke 6.
His group has proposed setting up food donation corners in supermarkets.
Why are you involved in the citizens' budget?
I think it's good that we have the opportunity to have a say about city funds.
And if projects don't get funded, the city may take them on anyway and push them through itself.
that's a nice way to do our idea well.
And you, what do you think about it?
It's great that you can vote at 14 instead of 18 or 16 like in traditional elections.
What do you think could be improved in the whole process for young people?
To make online voting easier,
because for online voting you need an identity card and many young people don't have one yet.
Above all, the will in the administration is important so that more proposals are submitted
and also so that they survive the examination process.
Ideally, a full-time position should be created so that there is time to address the young people
and all the local people and motivate them to participate.
It would be really nice if this kind of citizen participation became more widespread.
And it would be even cooler if the city administration entrusted more cash to its people.