Deliberative Democracy in the EU

Representative democracy remains the best available form of government – and the one preferred by most EU citizens, but satisfaction with how it plays out varies greatly across the continent. Among the perceived weaknesses are high levels of political corruption, low resilience to disinformation, and out-of-touch governing elites.

Yet there is some hope that direct channels for citizens to express their concerns and preferences, fact-based deliberation in representative bodies and robust mechanisms to hold governments to account can help save European democracy from the onslaught of populism.

This volume draws together proposals into a framework reflecting the four cumulative criteria used by modern political theorists to assess the health of a democracy: inclusion, choice, deliberation and impact. Its expert contributors offer pragmatic ideas to strengthen representative democracy at both the national and EU level.

1.Democracy as ecosystem Steven Blockmans

2. Efficiency, authority and representation Daniel Smilov

3. Democracy and its discontents: European attitudes to representative democracy and its alternatives Jacek Kucharczyk and Filip Pazderski

4. The emotional landscape of European voters Catharina Sørensen and William Rohde Madsen

Part I. Representative Democracy

5. Improving representativeness in Europe: A story of missed and future opportunities Dídac Gutiérrez-Peris and Héctor Sánchez Margalef

6. Transparency in EU decision-making: Under growing pressure, more important than ever Tuomas Iso-Markku

7. Alignment of national parties and European party federations Jan Kovář, Zdeněk Sychra and Petr Kratochvíl

8. How to Appoint a Commission President: The revised lead candidate procedure Sophia Russack

9. How can European Affairs Committees be strengthened? Iveta Kazoka and Sintija Tarasova

10. Revising the Early Warning System to reinforce the ‘third chamber’ of EU multi-level law-making Filippa Chatzistavrou and Konstantinos Papanikolaou

11. COSAC’s (untapped) potential Paula Lamoso González

12. EU democracy in an era of a changing media environment and disinformation Stefan Schaller, Paul Schmidt and Susan Milford-Faber

13. Democratic backsliding: The role of political corruption Aneta Világi and Pavol Baboš

14. The rule of law: Bastion of democracy, or barrier to it? Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska and Ian Bond

Part II. Direct Democracy

15. National referendums: Between legitimate popular decision-making and populist takeover Atanas Slavov

16. An EU-wide referendum: Potential threat or tool of empowerment? Eleonora Poli

17. The European Citizens’ Initiative and its reform: Truly unique or the same old story? Minna Ålander and Nicolai von Ondarza

18. Modern petitions for modern European democracies Elizabete Vizgunova

19. Europe’s deliberative instruments: Has the EU delivered? Wojciech Białożyt and Romain Le Quiniou

20. How can technology facilitate citizen participation in the EU? Mihai Sebe, Bogdan Mureșan and Eliza Vaș

Part III. Conclusions

21. Patterns and particularities in European democracy Richard Youngs

22. Participatory fusion: How to galvanise representative democracy with deliberative tools Steven Blockmans

About the Contributors