Andrej A. Lukšič, Ph.D. Maja Bahor, Ms.C.

1. International Scientific Conference“European Union and Global Democracy”, Zagreb, May 29th 2008Participatory Democracy within the EU: a solution for Democratic Gap? Andrej A. Lukšič, Ph.D. Maja Bahor, Ms.C.

2. Participatory democracy - background • Parry, Moser and Day (1992:16) define participation as “taking part in the process of formulation, passage and implementation of public policies”. • demands for participatory democracy emerged from the “new Left” and student movement in 1960s and 1970s. It was, then, a critique of the way “actually existing democracies” operated. • “problem with participatory democracy is not how to run it but how to reach it” (Macpherson).

3. Evolution of democracy in the EU • The Rome Treaty: no mention of the principle of democracy • The Single European Act: in the Preamble in light of the enlargement to Spain, Portugal, and Greece • The Nice Treaty: does not define democracy, only mentions democracy as one of the several principles on which the Union is founded.

4. Early Democratic deficit debate • the need to respect regional and local autonomy and to involve these actors in European policy-making (Committee of Regions), • the role of national parliaments in European decision-making, • the debate on subsidiarity, • the debate on European Citizenship.

5. The issue of transparency • Transparency as a vital role in any democracy • Within the framework of representative democracy transparency ensures parliamentary control over the executive, and enables citizens to go to the ballot box well informed. • Within the framework of participatory democracy transparency also enables participation by organizing interests in the policy process ex ante. • No fundamental debate has taken place on how transparency may contribute to a reduction of the democratic deficit.

6. The European Commission • The Commission has always linked transparency to participation in the decision-making process ex ante. • In 1996 the concept of civil dialogue was coined by the Commission’s DG responsible for social policy. • White paper on European Governance (CEC 2001, COM 428 final). • Concept of “Good governance”

7. The European economic and social committee • the EESC used the concept of civil dialogue in an attempt to redefine its role. • It defined its own role as guaranteeing “the implementation of the participatory model of civil society (enabling) civil society to participate in the decision-making process; and (helping) reduce a certain “democratic deficit” and so (underpinning) the legitimacy of democratic decision-making processes” (Opinion 1999, “The role and contribution of civil society organizations in the building of Europe”).

8. Institutional debate on participatory democracy • the ambiguous use of the term `participatory democracy' . • the White Paper's discourse on `openness' and `communication' is mainly concerned to make the institutions understandable and improve confidence. • European integration literature on participatory democracy, meant as civil society involvement or social partners' participation rather than direct citizen participation. • the concept of participation has never been clearly defined. • the Commission's concern with `participation' (as well as transparency) has been introduced largely from a functional efficiency-driven perspective - as a tool to reply to the Commission's information needs and to ensure compliance. • the emergence of the issue of `participatory democracy' in the European constitutional debate is linked to the institutional interests of the Commission and the EESC .

9. The democratic deficit debate and the governance debate • The `democratic deficit' debate has developed in the context of the subsequent IGCs. • The `governance debate‘was initiated by the Commission to increase confidence and efficiency by starting the reform of governance without awaiting new Treaty revisions.

10. The Convention debate • February 2002- June 2003 (16 months) • 105 members • some traces of the governance debate • the draft Constitution included a separate title on `The democratic life of the Union' qualifying democracy in the EU as `representative' and `participatory' . • Application of participatory democracy in the working process!

11. ' The democratic life of the Union' • The first preliminary draft of the Constitution (28 October 2002) Article 34: `the Institutions are to ensure a high level of openness, permitting citizens' organisations of all kinds to play a full part in the Union's affairs'. • The draft of 2 April 2003 - `Article 34 : The principle of participatory democracy 1 Every citizen shall have the right to participate in the democratic life of the Union . 2 The Union institutions shall, by appropriate means, give citizens and representative associations the opportunity to make known and publicly exchange their opinions on all areas of Union action . 3 The Union institutions shall maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with representative associations and civil society. • No mention was made of a `principle of representative democracy'!

12. Article on Participatory democracy Article 8 B 1. The institutions shall, by appropriate means, give citizens and representative associations the opportunity to make known and publicly exchange their views in all areas of Union action. 2. The institutions shall maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with representative associations and civil society. 3. The European Commission shall carry out broad consultations with parties concerned in order to ensure that the Union's actions are coherent and transparent. 4. Not less than one million citizens who are nationals of a significant number of Member States may take the initiative of inviting the European Commission, within the framework of its powers, to submit any appropriate proposal on matters where citizens consider that a legal act of the Union is required for the purpose of implementing the Treaties. The procedures and conditions required for such a citizens' initiative shall be determined in accordance with the first paragraph of Article 21 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

13. Democratic deficit and participatory democracy • There are two quite different perspectives of what the democratic deficit is: 1. an institutional perspective 2. a socio-psychological perspective

14. Conclusions • EU evolves incrementally • issues of democratic governance need to be addressed • The Commission and the EESC have highlighted the virtues of civil society participation • transition to a participatory model of governance.

15. Thank You for Your Attention! For any further information … andrej.luksic@fdv.uni-lj.si maja.bahor@fdv.uni-lj.si