The German national citizens' conference will convene in the Federal Foreign Office on 28 and 29 March under the patronage of Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier to debate the economic and social future of Europe. Some 150 citizens from across Germany will meet to discuss their vision of Europe and to adopt their recommendations.

The citizens' consultation in Germany is part of a pan-European process launched by the European Commission to give the people of Europe a say on policy matters. This is the second such project, and builds on the success of the European Citizens' Consultations (ECC) 2007. At the heart of the project are citizens' consultations in all 27 EU member states. Randomly selected citizens will draw up national recommendations for policy-makers at these events, which are being held over three weekends in March, with video links between them. 15 European recommendations will be drafted on the basis of the national citizens' recommendations, and will be discussed with representatives of the European institutions at the European Citizens' Summit in Brussels on 10 and 11 May 2009.

The European Citizens' Consultations are run by a European partner consortium led by the King Baudouin Foundation. The German project partners are the Robert Bosch Foundation, IFOK (Institut für Organisationskommunikation) and the Federal Foreign Office.