Casting Votes into the Void An Empirical Study of the Twelve Years of the European Citizens’ Initiative

Abstract

The European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) is a unique instrument promising to enable direct democracy, by enabling citizens to directly request the European Commission to propose legislation in areas where the Commission has the power to do so. The instrument is designed to promote democratic participation and increase the transparency of the EU decision-making processes. This article assesses the effectiveness of the ECI as an instrument to enhance citizen participation in the EU decision-making processes, with a particular focus on initiatives relating to environmental concerns and climate change. Despite the ECI’s potential to empower citizens and facilitate their input in EU policymaking, the instrument has been criticized for its complexity, limited impact and inaccessibility. Additionally, there are concerns that the ECI process may not be an adequate tool for addressing complex issues such as environmental concerns or climate change. This article explores these weaknesses and evaluates the extent to which the ECI can be utilized as a tool for enhancing citizen participation in environmental policymaking, analysing case studies of past initiatives in this area and examining their outcomes to determine the ECI’s ability to influence EU policies.

This article was written as a contribution to project ‘Legitimacy 2035’ which has received funding from the Strategic Research Council at the Academy of Finland, grant agreement No 335561.