EU Parliament pushes for more participatory tools for Europeans

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The European Parliament called on the EU to give European citizens a stronger voice and more instruments to influence the Union’s decision-making, as well as institutionalise participatory and deliberative processes.

A majority of EU lawmakers adopted a report on Thursday (14 September) calling for more participatory tools at EU level. The report, which has no direct legislative impact, passed with 316 votes in favour, 137 against and 47 abstentions.

“We send a clear message to upgrade our democracy, a new EU Agora that involves citizens in European democratic life,” said Alin Mituța (Renew), co-rapporteur on the file, following the adoption of the report.

More participation

In the report, the Parliament called for the creation of a European Agora, an annual “structured participation mechanism” composed of citizens, who would deliberate on the EU’s priorities for the year ahead, providing input for the Commission work plan.

Moreover, EU lawmakers called for the creation of a one-stop-shop for all the existing instruments to make sure citizens have easier access to them.

The report also encourages increased use of mini-publics as well as the institutionalisation of other deliberative processes, such as the European Citizens’ Panels, which were set up by the Commission as a follow-up to the EU-wide democratic experiment known as the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE).

These panels, made of randomly selected citizens, were called to deliberate on upcoming legislation earlier this year.

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Other participatory tools suggested in the report include EU-wide referendums on key EU policies as well as pan-European online citizens’ consultations to increase citizens’ knowledge of the EU as well as their trust in EU decision-making.

Finally, the Parliament called for an increased focus on the impact of EU policies on youth, suggesting the use of the ‘youth check’, a monitoring tool which has been promoted by the European Youth Forum and included in the CoFoE recommendations.

Other European institutions are already experimenting with the youth check, such as the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), whose recently appointed president included a youth test among the priorities for his mandate.

Complementary tools

According to EU lawmakers, citizens’ participation plays a key role in strengthening democracy and the EU Commission should develop a “comprehensive European strategy to enhance citizenship competences in the EU”.

At the same time, the report clearly defines these participatory tools as “complementary” to representative democracy.

“[D]irect or participatory democracy mechanisms and instruments can complement but not replace representative liberal parliamentary democracy,” the report reads.

During a debate preceding the vote, co-rapporteur Niklas Nienass (Greens) reiterated that the “idea [is] not to exchange representative democracy, […] but to improve it by bringing it into fast-paced times, by giving citizens the possibility to give their ideas.”

Some lawmakers, however, remain critical of participatory democracy.

“When we speak about referendums, about permanent agoras, there is the risk that we evolve from a representative democracy to a direct democracy,” said EPP lawmaker Paulo Rangel, adding that “history has always taught us the first step to dictatorship is direct democracy”.

Yet, more and more policy-makers and experts look at participatory democracy as a way to strengthen democratic output.

“Citizen participation should be seen as a complement to the other instruments of participation that already exist in the EU’s toolkit, all of which have a role,” Corina Stratulat, policy analyst at the European Policy Centre, told Euractiv.

Welcomed report

Thursday’s vote was particularly welcomed by organisations promoting citizen participation.

“MEPs have overwhelmingly voted for consolidating citizens’ panels and better participatory tools, drawing inspiration from the Conference on the Future of Europe,” commented the European Movement.

According to Stratulat, the report “helps to keep the conversation going on democratic upgrading in the EU” and could help to “mainstream citizen participation”.

“What I think it’s important in the end is that citizen participation is not looked at as one instrument to be used in one instance for one purpose,” she told Euractiv, adding that “citizens’ involvement in EU decision-making should become more pervasive than that”.

‘Missed opportunity’

At the same time, the vote on the report came amid disappointment among civil society organisations for the EU Commission President’s speech on the State of the Union, which lacked any references to civil society or participatory tools.

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According to Stratulat, “von der Leyen [missed] on the opportunity to pass a valuable legacy to the next college and to consolidate the significant progress achieved under her leadership in strengthening participatory democracy at the EU level”.

“The work must continue and it has to be a joint institutional effort,” she said, adding that she hoped for both the Commission and the Council to react to the Parliament’s report in the coming days.

[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald]

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