Authorisation Through Participation: Stakeholder Engagement as Project Strategy for the Future Circular Collider

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Major infrastructure projects must build and sustain relationships of trust, transparency, and open communication with their host regions. This need is even greater for large, publicly funded fundamental-science initiatives such as the Future Circular Collider (FCC), whose societal benefits may not be immediately evident. The scale and implications of the FCC—scientific, technical, environmental, and socio-economic—make early, continuous dialogue with citizens and local stakeholders essential. This presentation will first outline the regulatory framework governing public dialogue and participation for publicly funded projects in France, drawing on concrete examples such as EDF's programme to renew the French nuclear fleet with new EPR2 reactors. It will then present the FCC's public-engagement strategy, showing how it is embedded within the broader authorisation process. The talk will review the public-engagement activities conducted since 2023, including information initiatives, discussions with elected officials and stakeholders, participatory tools, and the mechanisms implemented in both France and Switzerland, along with initial insights gained. Finally, it will address the key challenges identified to date and describe the next steps of the consultation process, taking into account the distinct regulatory requirements in the two host states.

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