The European Citizens' Initiative as an instrument of deliberative democracy

Abstract

This thesis argues that the mechanism of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) should fulfil the role of an instrument of deliberative democracy. It engages with the debate on the democratic deficit in the EU and argues that the persuasiveness of arguments on the existence or non-existence of the deficit depends on the kind of legitimacy that is expected from the EU. The thesis endorses the view that the EU should enjoy reasoning-based normative legitimacy, rooted in citizens’ political autonomy and agency in the process of law-making. Following that criterion, indeed there is a democratic deficit in the EU. Arguably, deliberative democracy put into practice can work to cure it. The underlying premise of the deliberative democracy theory is that the addressees of the law should also be able to consider themselves its co-authors. The ECI offers such a possibility. It allows seven citizens from seven different EU Member States to propose a new law to the European Commission. However, since its inception the mechanism has not brought substantial success in terms of legislation. This in turn prompts negative evaluations of its hitherto effectiveness. A counterargument is that legislative success should not be seen as the only measure of success of the mechanism, as it has the potential to also fulfil other roles. This thesis is situated in the latter strand. It argues that the ECI should fulfil a deliberative democratic role. In order to evaluate whether it currently does so, two criteria are drawn from the normative framework. The first one relating to the role of reasons and the latter to the openness of the legislative power. The thesis concludes that currently the ECI does not fully deploy its deliberative potential and discusses potential reforms which could lead in that direction, inter alia the proposal for deliberative meetings.