The European Commission’s Online Consultations: the Contribution of a New Participations Tool to Overcome the EU’s Lacking Legitimacy

• Authors: Labitzke Jan
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Not only the ‘euro crisis‘ and the debate on a (more or less) common refugee policy has the European Union as a whole and particularly the European Commission searching for new democratic legitimisation of their decisions. However, the EU’s multiple crises have intensified this debate a great deal. Since the beginning of the new millennium, the Commission has increasingly used online consultations as a new and innovative tool for more participation, especially against the background of the White Paper on Governance published in 2001. A few years later in 2004, the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, stressed the significance of consultations under article I-47, which was titled “The Principle of participatory democracy” and additionally established the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI). These instruments are now codified in Art. 11 TEU. Both the White Paper and the complementation of representative democracy by the “principle of participatory democracy” in the constitutional treaty, were meant to help resolve the much-discussed democratic deficit of the EU by improving the inputand output-legitimacy of European decision-making process. This article is a discussion of the European Commission’s treatment of online consultations (based on own perennial empirical research and in-depth-analysis of selected case examples of different consultations). They will be discussed and theoretically categorised against the backdrop of theories of participatory democracy and participatory governance, ultimately in order to evaluate their (possible) contribution to the democratisation of the European Union.

• Publisher: Fundacja Instytut Nauki o Polityce
• Journal: Polish Journal of Political Science
• Year: 2016
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 32-56

Dates

published

2016

Contributors

author

Labitzke Jan

• University of Gießen Institute for Political Science

References

• Arnstein, Sherry R.. 1969. “A Ladder of Citizen Participation”. Journal of the American Planning Association, 35(4): 216-224
• Bignami, Francesca. 2003. “Three Generations of Participation Rights in the European Administrative Proceedings”, Jean Monnet Working Paper 11/2003. Accessed on 6 May 2010, http://www.jeanmon-netprogram.org/papers/03/031101.pdf
• Bozzini, Emanuela. 2009. “Democracy, Participation and Consultation. An empirical analysis of EU open consultation processes”. Paper presented at the SISP conference, 2009. Accessed on 20.09.2009, http://www.sisp.it/files/papers/2009/emanuela-bozzini501.pdf
• Bruns, Bryan. 2003. “Water Tenure Reform: Developing an Extended Ladder of Participation. Politics of the Commons: Articulating Development and Strengthening Local Practices”, Paper presented at the RCSD Conference, Chiang Mai, Thailand, 11-14 July 2003. Accessed on 15 May 2009, www.bryan-bruns.com/bruns-ladder.pdf
• Cullen, Pauline, 2005. “Revisiting the Civil Dialogue: EU NGOs, Ratification of the Constitutional Treaty and Participatory Democracy”. Paper presented at EUSA Biennial Conference, Budapest, 2005
• Duinkerken, Malou Jil. 2014. Die Europäische Bürgerinitiative. Ein effektives Instrument direkter Partizipation?, “Münchner Beiträge zur Politikwissenschaft” 2013. Accessed on 02 September 2014, http://epub.ub.unimuenchen.de/15085/1/Duinkerken_Final_41.pdf
• Edwards, Meredith. 2008. “Participatory Governance”, paper presented within the Corporate Governance ARC Project, University of Canberra, Australia, Issues Paper Series No. 6/2008. Accessed on 26. March 2010, http://www.can-berra.edu.au/corpgovaps/pub/issuespaper6-participatory-governance.pdf
• Eriksen, Erik Oddvar. 2001. “Democratic or technocratic governance?”. In Mountain or Molehill? A Critical Appraisal of the Commission White Paper on Governance, edited by Christian Joerges., Yves Meny, and Joseph H.H. Weiler. Jean Monnet Working Paper 6/2001. Accessed on 15 May 2010, http://www.jeanmonnetprogram.org/papers/01/010901.rtf.
• Eurobarometer. 2014. “Public opinion in the European Union: Report, June 2014”. Accessed on 18 October 2014, http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/eb/eb81/eb81_first_en.pdf
• European Commission. 2001. “Governance. A Whitepaper”, KOM (2001) 428 final., 25 July 2001
• European Commission. 2002. “Communication from the Commission. Towards a reinforced culture of consultation and dialogue: General principles and minimum standards for consultation of in-terested parties by the Commission”, COM(2002) 704 final, 11 December 2002
• European Commission. 2014. “Impact Assessment.” Accessed on 23. September 2014, http://ec.eu-ropa.eu/smart-regulation/impact/index_en.htm
• Featherstone, Kevin. 1994. “Jean Monnet and the ‘Democratic Deficit’ in the European Union”. Journal of Common Market Studies, 32(2): 149-170
• Friedrich, Dawid. 2006. “Participatory Democracy in the European Union? European Governance and the Inclusion of Civil Society Organisations in Migration and Environmental Policies”. Paper presented at the Fifteenth International Conference of the Council for European Studies. Accessed on 26 January 2011, http://councilforeuropeanstudies.org/files/Papers/Friedrich.pdf
• Gelli, Francesca, and Leonardo Morlino. 2009. Qualità della Democrazia e Innovazione Locale. Padova
• German Federal Constitutional Court. 1994. “In Re Maastricht Treaty. Cases 2 BvR 2134/92, 2 BvR 2159/92”. Translation based on the translation by Wegen et al., 33 I.L.M. 388, March, 1994. Accessed on 12 August 2015, http://www.judicialstudies.unr.edu/JS_Summer09/JSP_Week_1/German%20ConstCourt%20Maastricht.pdf
• Grande, Edgar. 1996. "Demokratische Legitimation und europäische Integration”. Leviathan: Berliner Zeitschrift für Sozialwissenschaft, 24(3): 339-360
• Grimm, Dieter. 1995. “Braucht Europa eine Verfassung?”. In Informationsgesellschaft und Rechtskultur in Europa. Informationelle und politische Teilhabe in der Europäischen Union, edited by Marie Th. Tinnefeld, Lothar Philipps, and Susanne Heil, 211-230. Baden-Baden
• Höreth, Marcus. 1999. Die Europäische Union im Legitimationstrilemma. Zur Rechtfertigung des Regierens jenseits der Staatlichkeit. Baden-Baden
• Kielmansegg, Peter, Graf von. 1995. “Läßt sich die Europäische Union demokratisch verfassen?” In Reform der Europäischen Union. Materialien zur Revision des Maastrichter Vertrages, edited by Werner Weidenfeld, 229-242. Gütersloh
• Kohler-Koch, Beate. 2001. “The Commission White Paper and the Improvement of European Governance”. In Mountain or Molehill? A Critical Appraisal of the Commission White Paper on Governance, edited by Christian Joerges., Yves Meny, and Joseph H.H. Weiler. Jean Monnet Working Paper 6/2001. Accessed on 15 May 2010, http://www.jeanmonnetprogram.org/pa-pers/01/010901.rtf
• Kohler-Koch, Beate. 2013. “Governing with the European Civil Society”. In De-Mystification of Participatory Democracy: EU Governance and Civil Society, edited by Beate KohlerKoch, and Christine Quittkat, 18-40. Oxford
• Labitzke, Jan. 2016. Mehr partizipative Demokratie wagen. Zum Umgang der Europäischen Kommission mit Online-Konsultationen. Wiesbaden
• Lahusen, Christian. 2003. “Die Politisierung europäischer Politik”. Forschungsjournal Neue Soziale Bewegungen. Lobbyismus in Deutschland. Fünfte Gewalt: unkontrolliert und einflussreich?”, 3: 80-85
• Lindberg, Leon N., and Stuart A. Scheingold. 1970. Europe’s Would-Be Polity: Patterns of Change in the European Community. New Jersey
• Magnette, Paul. 2001. “European Governance and Civic Participation: Can the European Union be Politicised?”. In Mountain or Molehill? A Critical Appraisal of the Commission White Paper on Governance, edited by Christian Joerges., Yves Meny, and Joseph H.H. Weiler. Jean Monnet Working Paper 6/2001. Accessed on 15 May 2010, http://www.jeanmonnetprogram.org/pa-pers/01/010901.rtf
• Majone, Giandomenico. 1998. “Europe’s ‘Democratic Deficit’: The Question of Standards”, European Law Journal, 4(1): 5-28
• Moravcsik, Andrew. 2000. “Essay on ‘Democracy and Constitutionalism in the European Union’“, ECSA Review, 13(2): 5-7
• Nickel, Rainer. 2010. “Participatory Transnational Governance”. EUI Working Paper Law 2005/20. Ac-cessed on 22 August 2010, http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID891069_code97794.pdf?abstractid=891069&mirid=1
• Prodi, Romano. 2000. “2000-2005: Shaping the New Europe”. SPEECH/00/41, 15 February 2000
• Quittkat, Christine. 2013. “New instruments serving democracy: Do online consultations benefit civil society?”. In De-Mystification of Participatory Democracy: EU Governance and Civil Society, edited by Beate Kohler-Koch, and Christine Quittkat, 85-113. Oxford
• Reif, Karlheinz. 1993. “Ein Ende des “permissive concensus”? Zum Wandel europapolitischer Einstellungen in der öffentlichen Meinung der EG-Mitgliedsstaaten”. In Der Vertrag von Maastricht in der wissenschaftlichen Kontroverse, edited by Rudolf Hrbek, 23-40. Baden-Baden
• Schaap, Linze, and Arthur Edwards. 2007. “Participatory Democracy”. In Encyclopedia of Governance, edited by Mark Bevir, 663-667. London - New Delhi
• Schmidt, Manfred G. 2010. Demokratietheorien. Eine Einführung (5th ed.). Wiesbaden
• Schmitter, Philippe. 2000. “Essay on ‘Democracy and Constitutionalism in the European Union’”. ECSA Review, 13 (2):. 2-3
• Treaty on European Union
• Wind, Marlene M. 2001. “The Commission White Paper. Bridging the Gap Between the Governed and the Governing?”. In Mountain or Molehill? A Critical Appraisal of the Commission White Paper on Governance, edited by Christian Joerges., Yves Meny, and Joseph H.H. Weiler. Jean Monnet Working Paper 6/2001. Accessed on 15 May 2010, http://www.jeanmonnetprogram.org/pa-pers/01/010901.rtf