PES Manifesto

Making participatory democracy work!

Published Sunday, October 7, 2007 at 23:48
by henningdotcom (1106 views and 2 comments)

It seems very likely that one of the direct democratic elements of the Constitutional Treaty will be preserved in the coming amendment treaty: The citizens’ initiative or article I-46. But what does this mean in detail?

The main points of the initiative can be summarized in the following way:

“The main innovation in this area is the inclusion of a right of citizens' initiative. Article I-46 stipulates that a petition with at least one million signatures obtained from a number of Member States may be sent to the Commission inviting it to take a legislative initiative, provided the latter is compatible with the Constitution and, in particular, with the Charter of Fundamental Rights. This citizens' initiative does not, of course, affect the Commission's right of initiative.

This major innovation means that, for the first time, the idea of participatory democracy has been brought into the European political arena. It gives those European citizens who complain about the ‘democratic deficit in Europe’ a means of directly making their voices heard. This innovation goes hand in hand with the efforts to clarify the distribution of competences and to simplify legal instruments, whose ultimate purpose is to bring citizens closer to the Community institutions.”

The introduction of this means to involve Europe’s citizens more in the EU’s policy-making process is generally welcome. There are, however, at least two issues of practicability that the PES should take on board:

1. Together with the Council of the European Union, the European Commission is the institution most associated with the “democratic deficit” mentioned above. Given that the Commission enjoys the exclusive right to initiate legislation, it is simply not good enough if it is just “invited” to act upon the concerns of one million EU citizens. If this petition mechanism is meant to become a serious tool for direct democracy, it should be compulsory for the Commission to react – in one way or another – to the concerns of European citizens. The PES should pressure to establish a more clear-cut process, in which citizens know how their civic engagement is being dealt with.

2. Collecting one million signatures from across Europe for a particular petition is not an easy task. Such a campaign could involve costs and other restrictions of practicability that would hamper the exercise of this new citizen right. The PES should pressure the Commission to provide the best available tools to avoid these obstacles. The petition website operated by 10 Downing Street in particular should serve as a role model for a Commission-run website, where citizens can file their petitions and gather support. The opening up of EU policy-making to direct citizen influence is an important step for the Union to overcome the distance between its institutions and its citizens. It would also be a sign of the EU’s responsiveness and a powerful argument for pro-Europeans to counter the often heard claims of the “undemocratic” and “unaccountable” European Union.

Tags: citizens, democracy