The EESC's flagship communication event, which brings together communication professionals from civil society organisations, will take place in Bratislava on 23 and 24 November. In the run-up to 2024, which could, as some say, be described as "the World Cup of elections", given the number of elections that will take place worldwide, Connecting EU will focus on the vote for the new European Parliament.

In particular, the seminar entitled "European elections 2024. Why vote?", aims to give an impetus to civil society organisations to help promote the importance of EU elections and reach a high turnout against a backdrop of democratic backsliding in several Member States and a loss of faith in democratic institutions affecting all countries.
The seminar will specifically look at three topics, which may well dominate the debates in the months to come:

• Disinformation and its impact on the 2024 elections: It is safe to say that fake news and false narratives will be prolific in electoral campaigns for seats in the European Parliament. Now that AI is becoming the new frontier of disinformation, will it be even harder to crack down on it? Can the new EU rules on disinformation help stop the armies of social media trolls from spreading lies? Can they help curb foreign interference in the election? What can be done to counter the deluge of disinformation looming on the horizon?
• Mobilising civil society around elections: what works and what doesn't: With democracy on the back burner across Europe, is civil society ready to impart the importance of European elections to Europeans and convince them to turn out in great numbers? In the new communication landscape, with traditional media seemingly losing the upper hand, will the battle for voters' hearts and minds be won on social media or rather in person, at public gatherings? What are the do's and don'ts of communicating with prospective voters – we will look at recent elections to find out.
• Elections and young people – How can young people be convinced that their vote matters? How to ensure they cast their ballots en masse? With recent polls showing that more than half of Europeans younger than 25 feel abandoned by mainstream politics and the EU, what will it take to change their perception?

The seminar is part of the "Connecting EU" series, which every year offers a platform where press and communication professionals from civil society organisations can network and discuss current issues of common interest affecting Europe. It brings together EESC members and other EU representatives, partner organisations from Member States, journalists and researchers to debate the hot issues of the day.
The full programme and the list of speakers will be available shortly on the EESC's website. The event is by invitation only, but a few places are available for interested stakeholders. For more information, please write to: pressofficers@eesc.europa.eu.