Policy paper – More civil society involvement in the EU

01/07/2020

Compared to most member states, EU-level participative democracy is quite advanced. However, to remain in the pole position, the EU needs to further develop its instruments for involving individual citizens as well as organized civil society. In order to move from the current top-down to a more bottom-up approach, citizens must be given a true right of initiative, policy makers need to become more responsive to citizens’ input, instruments must be simplified and participation should be increased. The second paper provides ten recommendations how to address these reform needs. The planned “Conference on the Future of Europe” is the best opportunity to test these ways of bottom-up citizens’ involvement.