This panel addresses the ever more emphatic challenge of enhancing EU democratic legitimacy and citizen involvement in EU decision making. It does so by analysing the institutional position of European citizens in EU democratic reform processes. The panel focuses on three key reform initiatives or avenues aimed at galvanising citizen participation “in the democratic life...
From Paris with Love: A Critique of President Macron‘s Democratic Conventions
This paper analyses President Macron‘s initiative to hold EU-wide democratic conventions in the run-up to the 2019 EP elections as a method of reviving citizen participation in shaping European integration. The analysis scrutinises the benefits and pitfalls of this initiative and develops a threefold argument. First, while the initiative correctly concentrates on bottom-up democratisation, it...
Participatory Democracy in the CJEU Case Law: Challenges and Implications for the EU
Innovative developments in EU participatory democracy have recently led to a number of significant CJEU judgments that directly address the challenges it poses to the Community Method, particularly in the European Citizens‘ Initiative case law. Having analysed these judgments, this paper explores the Court‘s interpretation of participatory democracy in light of other key EU principles...
Re-Designing the European Citizens‘ Initiative: Revolution or More of the Same?
Since its inception, the European Citizens‘ Initiative (ECI) has been promoted as a way to strengthen citizens‘ participation in EU decision-making. The legal framework of the ECI, however, has received severe criticism for not allowing the mechanism to reach its full participatory potential. After a period of review, the Commission recently published a Proposal to...
The Past and Future of the Right to Petition the European Parliament: A Viable Alternative for Citizens‘ Participation in the EU?
This paper performs an institutional analysis of the EU citizens‘ right to petition the European Parliament (EP) and its legal regime under Article 227 TFEU and following the Schönberger judgment of the CJEU. Concerning inter-institutional relations, this right is first appraised from the perspective of the significant ‘human capital’ that was initially invested to prevent...