regards-citoyens

“ Representative democracy needs to be supported by deliberative and participatory democracy (…). The European Commission wants transnational consultation of citizens to become a permanent feature of EU democracy ”
                                                                                                                                                   Margot Wallström, 8 December 2007

Abstract

Are European Union institutions, as they claim, really listening to citizens thanks to more ‘deliberative’ consultation tools ? The European Commission and the European Parliament in particular have committed themselves to engaging in a dialogue with citizens in recent years. But to what effect ?

This paper notes how official policies have adopted language borrowed from the deliberative democracy school of thinking, but denounces the lack of clarity in the role assigned to deliberation with citizens in EU policy-making processes. It also invites EU policy-makers to think more critically about recent and future experiments that present themselves as ‘deliberative’. It does so by highlighting areas for improvement in recent initiatives.

Finally, it makes a number of recommendations for the future of dialogue with citizens, suggesting in particular the creation of a European Observatory for Democracy and Opinion, as well as a list of criteria to assess the design and role of such activities, and the concentration of efforts on one high-quality, highimpact initiative per year.

Stephen Boucher is currently programme director at the European Climate Foundation.
Before joining ECF, Stephen was co-manager of Notre Europe, a Paris-based think tank dedicated to European unity, where he partnered with colleague Henri Monceau, and Stanford professors James Fishkin and Robert Luskin to devise and organise Tomorrow’s Europe, the first pan-EU deliberative poll. His focus there was on energy policy, deliberative democracy, and think tanks. He has published several books and papers on these issues.
This paper represents the author’s views only.

Achievements

EPIN is a network that offers its member institutes the opportunity to contribute to the 'European added-value' for researchers, decision-makers and citizens. The network provides a unique platform for researchers and policy analysts to establish personal links, exchange knowledge and collaborate on EU-related issues. Members bring their national perspectives to bear on the issues tackled and through collaboration they contribute to establish a 'European added-value' (e.g. on EU communication, flexible integration). By doing so they strengthen a common European dimension in the national debates on Europe. With the support of the European Union: Support for organisations active at European level in the field of active European citizenship.

EPIN Working Papers present analyses of key issues raised by the debate on the political integration of Europe. The European Policy Institutes Network (EPIN) is a network of think tanks and policy institutes based throughout Europe, which focuses on current EU political and policy debates (see back cover for more information). Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed are attributable only to the author in a personal capacity and not to any institutions with which he is associated.

ISBN-13: 978-92-9079-888-2
Available for free downloading from the CEPS (http://www.ceps.eu) and EPIN (http://www.epin.org) websites
                                                                      CEPS_1856.pdf

© Copyright 2009, Stephen Boucher