The EU Citizens’ Initiative: How to make the European Parliament more representative

Peadar ó Broin

The European Parliament is often criticised as suffering from a lack of popular legitimacy, given its perceived remoteness from the citizens it represents. Many citizens are unaware of what the European Parliament can do or the names of its members (MEPs). Indeed, the German Federal Constitutional Court took up this point in its recent judgment on the Lisbon Treaty (at paras. 280-297). This representativity problem is compounded by falling voter turnout in European elections in every Member State. The June 2009 elections were no exception to this trend. As a recent report from the Centre for European Policy Studies pointed out, this has led to a situation where the current European Parliament may be more powerful, but less legitimate. This is a cause for concern, given that the European Parliament has just been granted greater law-making powers under the Lisbon Treaty. 

As former French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing explained to the IIEA earlier this year, EU institutions are always going to suffer from some aspect of remoteness, given that they represent over 450 million citizens from 27 countries. But with growing advances in 2.0 politics for example, the European Parliament has new tools that it can tap into to try and connect with citizens. But citizens will only engage with the European Parliament if they perceive it to be a beneficial exercise. 

Perhaps one of the main reasons as to why the European Parliament is so ignored by citizens is that it is a responsive body, not a proactive one. It has parliamentary attributions, such as being directly elected and vested with powers that enable its members to adopt laws. But it lacks one key power that almost every parliament in the world holds: the power to propose legislation. 

Under EU law, this power lies almost exclusively with the European Commission, which acts in this respect as the executive body of the EU. With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December 2009, EU citizens will now have the power to propose EU laws to the European Commission. At least one million citizens “who are nationals of a significant number of Member States” may take the initiative of inviting the European Commission to submit any proposal within the limits of EU powers. 

This is not a power that compels the initiation of legislation – the Commission will still have the final decision on whether to propose a law. This non-binding character of the Citizens’ Initiative is perhaps wise considering the recent referendum in Switzerland on outlawing the construction of minarets and the negative reaction it provoked abroad. In that case, the Swiss Constitution provides that at least 100,000 citizens can propose an amendment of the Constitution, it must go to a referendum (Article 139). If the EU Citizen’s Initiative were to be legally binding upon the European Commission, the EU could find subject to the “tyranny of the majority” that fails to provide adequate protection for the rights of minorities or breaches fundamental rights (in the Swiss case, the right to freedom of religion). 

How does this relate to the legitimacy of the European Parliament? The European Commission recently publised a Green Paper on how best to structure the Citizens’ Initiative. It states that the Citizens’ Initiative “will give a stronger voice to European Union citizens” and “will add a new dimension to European democracy”. Noble objectives, but the Green Paper fails to address the question of whether EU citizens will become involved or organised on such a level required to make this sort of tool relevant, or whether “citizens” will in reality mean lobbyists or special-interest groups. 

Since the European Parliament represents the Union’s citizens; what better institution than to coordinate the Citizens’ Initiative on behalf of EU citizens? This way the European Parliament can ensure that the proposal is in the general interest and can assess whether it is something required at EU level or best addressed at national level. The European Parliament also has all the technical and legal expertise required to ensure that an initiative does not fail on procedural grounds. But perhaps most important of all, MEPs will be able to liaise in a direct way with their constituents in tackling issues of real importance for citizens.  

Coupling administration of the Citizens’ Initiative with the European Parliament will also bring citizens into direct contact with the institution – raising the likelihood that they will become familiar with its role and potential. For the European Parliament itself, coordinating the Citizens’ Initiative means that it may be able to strengthen its role in the European Union’s institutional structure, thereby providing a stronger voice for EU citizens in a Union that some in the blogosphere have criticised as being too dominated by national governments. 

The European Commission has created a website for submissions calling for ideas on how the Citizens’ Initiative could work. You have until 31 January next year to contribute.

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