What do we mean by participatory democracy

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What do we mean by participatory democracy ?

• September 2004 - Vienna
• Sarah Van Doosselaere

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Contents

• Introduction
• European Constitution
• Democratic deficit
• European Institutions Democracy
• Participatory democracy
• Definition and functioning
• Purpose and benefits
• Different forms national and European levels

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Contents

• European civil dialogue
• Definition
• Actors
• Role and objectives
• Representativeness and legitimacy of organised
  civil society

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Contents

• European social dialogue
• Definition
• Actors
• Role
• Representativeness and legitimacy of social
  partners

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Contents

• European social model
• Definition
• Main instruments
• Open method of coordination
• Definition
• Purpose
• Conclusion

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Introduction

• Article 46 The principle of Participatory
  Democracy
• 1. The Union Institutions shall, by appropriate
  means, give citizens and representative
  associations the opportunity to make known and
  publicly exchange their views in all areas of the
  Union action
• 2. The Union institutions shall maintain an open,
  transparent and regular dialogue with
  representative associations and civil society.
• 3. The Commission shall carry out broad
  consultations with parties concerned in order to
  ensure that the Unions actions are coherent and
  transparent.
• 4. No less than one million citizens coming from
  a significant number of Member States may invite
  the Commission to submit any appropriate proposal
  on matters where citizens consider that a legal
  act of the Union is required for the purpose of
  implementing the Constitution. A European law
  shall determine the provisions for the specific
  procedures and conditions required for such a
  citizens initiative.

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Introduction

• Democratic deficit
• Representative democracy and its limits
• Output legitimacy
• Confidence crisis
• ? Need of democratic institutions and citizens
  participation

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Introduction

• European Institutions Democracy
• European Parliament
• European Commission
• Council of Ministers
• European Council
• European Economic and Social Committee

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Participatory democracy

• Definition
• It is a way for organised citizens to take
  direct responsibility for some of their concerns
  and to exercise permanent control over the
  leaders they choose at elections.
• At the European level, participatory democracy is
  a combination of both social and civil
  dialogues.

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Participatory democracy

• Functioning
• ? Three main ways to participate
• Political agenda setting
• Decision-making
• Implementing and evaluating

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Participatory democracy

• Purpose and benefits
• Improving European governance
• Better information flow
• Better involvement of those most directly
  affected by public policies
• Better accountability
• Better legitimacy, transparency, understanding
• It improves representative democracy
• It brings European citizens closer to the Unions
  institutions

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Participatory democracy

• Different forms
• National level participatory budget, local
  assemblies, extra-municipal commissions, public
  consultations, e-democracy, etc.
• European level petitions, public consultations
  and hearings through civil and social dialogue.

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European Civil Dialogue

• Definition
• With European civil society, European citizens
  are given the opportunity to influence European
  policies through institutional consultation of
  organised civil society.

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European Civil Dialogue

• Actors
• Civil society is composed of all the
  organisations which, in one way or another, act
  in the general interest to improve life, whether
  this relates to social justice, human rights, the
  environment, etc. (Oostings D.)
• The scope of civil dialogue ranges from very
  different areas covered by NGOs, specific
  associations (religious and non-confessional) and
  representative organisations.
• Civil society actors are very numerous and hard
  to organise.
• These actors come from the local, regional,
  national and European levels.

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European Civil Dialogue

• Role and objectives
• Consultation of NGOs by the Commission
• Regular dialogue with the Institutions
• ?development of new ideas
• ?valuable expertise
• ?reconciliation of different views and concerns
• ?sound implementation promoted
• ?European citizens closer to EU decision-making
• ?consolidation of democracy

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European Civil Dialogue

• Representativeness of organised civil society
• Representativeness of NGOs varies from one
  organisation to another, so what needs to be
  taken into consideration are
• Transparency
• Accountability
• Responsibility
• Efficiency
• Internal Democracy
• Respect of sovereignty of law
• Legal use of their funds

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European Civil Dialogue

• Legitimacy of organised civil society
• Even though they represent factional interests,
  NGOs legitimacy derives from
• Direct experience
• Supporter and voluntary base
• Ability to contribute to debate on European
  integration
• Internal organisational ability
• Formal administrative status
• Partnerships with NGOs around the world
• ? Formal Representativeness and legitimacy
  criteria shall be established by the Commission
  in cooperation with NGOs

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European Social Dialogue

• Article I-47 the Social Partners and autonomous
  Social Dialogue
• The European Union recognises and promotes the
  role of the social partners at Union level,
  taking into account the diversity of national
  systems it shall facilitate dialogue between the
  social partners, respecting their autonomy.

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European Social Dialogue

• Definition
• European social dialogue is broadly the
  extrapolation to the European level of a
  mechanism found in many member states where
  social partners are directly consulted by the
  State regarding socio-economic policies and where
  they are able to negotiate collective agreements
  which are juridically binding.

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European Social Dialogue

• Actors
• European institutions
• The Employers confederation (UNICE)
• The trade unions confederation (ETUC)

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European Social Dialogue

• Role
• Combining economic efficiency and social justice
  by letting social partners influence every policy
  that affects the world of work
• Consultation by the Commission of the social
  partners about general direction of social
  policies
• Consultation by the Commission of the social
  partners about the actual content of these
  policies
• Preparation of Community Law
• Elaboration of Community social norms
• Adoption of joint opinions, statements,
  declarations, recommendations
• Transposition of directives into national law
• ? Important cooperation with civil society
  organisations

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European Social Dialogue

• Representativeness of social partners
• The requirements regarding representativeness of
  social partners depend on the nature of the
  responsibilities conferred on them but the main
  criteria are
• Cooperation
• Openness
• Clear mandate defined by members
• Transparency of processes and objectives
• Accountability

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European Social Dialogue

• Legitimacy of social partners
• Democratic legitimacy
• Practical legitimacy
• Output legitimacy

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European social model

• Definition
• European social model does not mean to impose a
  single social policy to all member states but it
  is meant to allow all systems to work together
  harmoniously.
• Over time this social model has evolved and
  acquired its own identity it is made of a
  compromise between economic achievement and
  solidarity.

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European social model

• Main instruments
• Legislation
• Social dialogue
• Financial instruments
• The Open Method of Coordination

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Open method of coordination

• Definition
• The Open method of coordination suggests
  approaches not in terms of means but in terms of
  the objectives to be achieved, and it is based on
  a regular reporting schedule which allows for
  assessment of progress and construction of
  monitoring indicators.

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Open method of coordination

• Purpose
• Allowing convergences in sensitive areas such as
  social protection and employment
• Taking diversity of national contexts into
  account
• More flexibility
• More legitimacy
• More efficiency

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Conclusion

• Along with social dialogue, Participatory
  democracy brings
• expertise
• dialogue
• negotiation
• the search for convergence of interests to the
  European decision-making processes.
• It also improves
• quality
• credibility
• understanding
• legitimacy
• Transparency of the Unions policies in the eye
  of European citizens.
• ? participatory improves representative democracy