Civil Society and Democracy in the EU: The Paradox of the European Citizens’ Initiative

Abstract the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) is hailed as an important tool for civic involvement in EU policy-making. Paradoxically, the legislative proposal introducing the ECI succeeded not because of large-scale public involvement, but due to strategic lobbying of policy-makers by civil society organisations (CSOs). This paper demonstrates that not all CSOs engaged in EU policy debates strive to foster broad civic participation. We can distinguish between two different models of organisations: issue-specific professionalised organisations that engage directly with decision-makers and broader-based citizen organisations, and social movements that seek to mobilise a wide section of society in order to voice their concerns in a public debate. The story of the ECI's genesis illustrates that structural problems inhibit CSOs in mobilising broad sections of the public in EU policy-making. Since CSOs are likely to be at the core of efforts to mobilise the necessary one million signatures for an ECI, this is likely to have implications for operationalising the ECI.