Since 2004 Royal has been president of Poitou-Charentes, a region on the west coast of France 400 kilometres from Paris. She heads the local Socialist government.

Royal was in Florence to launch the European Foundation for Participatory Democracy, in cooperation with the Tuscany region of Italy and Catalonia in Spain. The foundation aims to promote participatory democracy in Europe through cooperation and exchange of best practices.

"Including participatory mechanisms in the daily practices of the European Union could promote more proximity of the Union to its citizens, and more transparency," president of the Tuscany region Claudio Martini said.

Participatory democracy devices such as a referendum, participatory budgeting, e-consultations and citizens' juries are intended to include citizens' voices in decision-making processes. They can be consultative, or imply a real transfer of decision-making power from politicians to citizens.

With participatory budgeting, one of the most widespread mechanisms, citizens decide on allocation of public funds. Such budgeting was developed at the end of the 1980s in the Brazilian town Porto Alegre, and is now implemented in over 50 cities in Italy, France, Germany, Britain, Spain, Portugal and Poland.

"Participatory democracy is often seen in opposition to representative democracy," Royal said. "But we believe that if citizens do not participate in political decisions, decisions are not understood and shared by the population. Decisions are strongest if authorities agree to put themselves under discussion."

Royal's region, Poitou-Charentes, is in the forefront of implementation of participatory democracy mechanisms. Since 2005, high school students have been invited to have a say in allocation of the 10 percent of the regional budget for education.

Ninety-three schools participate in distribution of 10 million euro per year. Students, parents and teachers are consulted on a regular basis, make concrete proposals, and vote their favourite project. The regional council then distributes funds. So far 706 projects have been financed this way.

Poitou-Charentes is a largely rural region. Many students live in boarding schools and have been lamenting poor living conditions, and lack of services and cultural initiatives.

"There was a lot of criticism that students would finance just anything. But they have expressed a need for cultural enrichment: more music and arts in the schools but also easier access to outside initiatives, including the institution of a cultural facilitator," Royal told IPS.

Participatory budgeting in high schools is also financing driving licence courses for young people at professional schools. In 2008 Poitou-Charentes will set up a citizens jury to evaluate the environmental impact of regional policies.

The relationship between institutions and citizens has changed since introduction of participatory budgeting, says Anja Röcke, consultant to the Poitou-Charentes region.

"The regional school administration has become more transparent and open towards users. The person in charge goes to the meeting with the school community. People understand why decisions are taken, and what the region is doing," Röcke told IPS.

However, participatory budgeting is not a simple process.

"Some schools are very active, they seem to understand better what democracy means. In other places the process is still quite top-down, and no one is coming to the meetings. But overall it is a positive dynamic, it is going in the right direction," Röcke said.

Tuscany region has taken the French experience as a model for its own regional law on citizens' participation, adopted in July 2007 following consultations with citizens.

Citizens will have six months to give their opinion on matters such as creation of high-impact infrastructure. But "the final decision is still in the hands of institutions," said Martini.

In November Massa Carrara town in Tuscany will host the second 'Electronic Town Meeting' in which 300 randomly selected citizens will use new technologies to allocate the regional health budget, and decide who should pay for certain health services, and to what extent.

Tuscany and Poitou-Charentes are also partners in a European project on e-participation, promoting citizens' participation through new technologies and the Internet.