STRASBOURG — The European Parliament’s leadership has decided to scrap an award given to EU citizens as part of cost-cutting measures.

The European Citizens’ Prize was introduced in 2008 to reward citizen-led projects that contribute to European cooperation and the promotion of EU values, with 50 projects winning each year.

After a break in 2024 because of the EU election, the prize was put on hold, and the death knell was sounded on Monday evening at a meeting of the bureau, composed of European Parliament President Roberta Metsola and her 14 vice presidents. 

“Despite significant investment over the years and multiple changes of its rules, the Prize has proven to be a complex, resource-intensive process that has delivered minimal outreach results, including negligible measurable media impact,” reads an internal note signed by the Parliament’s Secretary-General Alessandro Chiochetti, seen by POLITICO. 

“The experience has shown that the projects distinguished with the Prize failed to attract sufficient attention at local and regional levels, which in turn prevent the Prize from contributing meaningfully to the Parliament’s visibility on a large scale,” the note reads.

The measure will save around €200,000 a year, most of which comes from the communications budget. That money will instead be used for more cost-efficient activities, the note said, without specifying which activities will benefit.

Chiochetti also raised concerns in his note that the prize “occasionally” raises reputational concerns for the Parliament, “due to perceptions of political influence in some nominations, ethical issues or allegations of misconduct involving some prize winners.”

The decision is part of a broader restructuring and cuts the secretary-general underwent to trim the €127 million communications budget, as reported by POLITICO in June.