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Problems and Purpose

Due to the democratic deficit at the EU level a citizen consultation was launched in 2006, offering citizens the possibility to better understand EU issues and to express a better informed opinion on them.

History

In 2005 the European Commission launched its "Plan D" (democracy, dialog, debate). Plan D's impetus was largely a reaction on the voter rejection of the European Constitution. European Citizens' Consultation was an approach to build an EU-wide consensus on its future policies by encouraging national debates.

Originating Entities and Funding

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Participant Recruitment and Selection

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Methods and Tools Used

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Deliberation, Decisions, and Public Interaction

Events were held in all 27 member-states between Oct 2006 and May 2007. Citizens were chosen through a random sampling process to achieve demographic diversity. Debates were coordinated across national borders. At the UK event for example participants were divided in groups of eight. Suggestions were fed into a laptop and transferred to a main screen and voted on in plenary.

Influence, Outcomes and Effects

The impact on policy was limited. The project did, however, prove to be a pioneering model for cross-European dialogue and its success in this regard is demonstrated by the initiation of a second European Citizens' Consultation in 2009 (case study available at http://participedia.net/en/cases/european-citizens-consultation-2009).

Analysis and Lessons Learned

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Secondary Sources and External Links

Website [DEAD LINK]

ECC Agenda Setting Event

ECC 2007 (Ireland)

ECC 2009 (Brussels)