Thread by @DHierlemann

Our new study: "Under construction. Citizen participation in the EU." #CoFoE ends, but how well do citizen participation instruments in the EU really work? We need a participation infrastructure, but what we have is a patchwork of instruments. 🧵
bertelsmann-stiftung.de/en/topics/late…

Joint study with the @epc_eu. We've analysed seven EU participation instruments: Elections to the EP, European Citizen’s Initiative, Petitions, European Ombudsman, Public Consultations, Citizens’ Dialogues and the European Citizens’ Consultations. @jaemmanouilidis

Based on interviews and survey of 100 decision-makers and EU democracy experts, a representative EU population survey by @euopinions and of course literature.
Our analytical lenses: visibility, accesibility, representativeness, deliberativeness, transnationality, impact

1 Citizens know little about their participation opportunities
2 Often participation is easier than citizens thing
3 Participation beyond the usual ‘Brusspects’ is lacking
4 Deliberative Democracy is a trend that is not yet taken seriously enough
5 Success stories missing

Citizen Participation in the EU is a #ParticipationPatchwork, because of 3 gaps:
🔺 Awareness: instruments are unknown, among citizens & EU institutions
🟩 Performance: room for improvement for all instruments
🔷 Political commitment: lack of political will and common strategy

Awareness gap:
- Participatory landscape is 'terra incognita' to citizens
- Many find their voice is not heard in the EU (54% of all surveyed).
@eupinions survey data: citizens know little about EU participation instruments

Performance gap:
- often a lack of good deliberation
- Digital potentials not yet exploited
- Hardly any direct influence on EU policy

Survey among 59 EU democracy experts: instruments have significant room for improvement

🔷 Political commitment gap
- Participation rhetoric not in line with participation
reality
- Necessary political support lacking
- Participation often mistaken with communication

The EU needs to construct a citizens’ #ParticipationInfrastructure 🏛️with:
🤝 More political will from Brussels and EU capitals
📜 A common participation strategy
👀 Increased visibility
💻 A central online hub
💬 More digital solutions and innovative deliberation

Many thanks to experts who helped us: @alexstubb @simonjhix @ElisaLironi @RNihoul @SophiaRussack @anthonyzach @WolfgangPetzold @JamesOrgan9 @alemannoEU @_ManuelMueller @chriswratil @YoungsRichard @KalypsoNicolaid @JPlottka @Smith1966G @BenCrumNL @vivienaschmidt and many more