If the first election in which a young voter participates is a European election then that voter is less likely to vote in any kind of election for the rest of their life compared to their first electoral experience being a national election. This finding from Professor Mark Franklin of the European University Institute in …
Warning: EU elections may be dangerous to your democracy Read More »
The European Union (EU) is moving quickly to clarify and enforce the rights of its citizens, driven by the very senior, results-oriented Commissioner Viviane Reding. The Commission’s focus is the rights of individuals when engaging in cross-border activities, such as purchasing products from another country or obtaining social services when living abroad. However, it is …
Europe will begin the first-ever experiment in transnational participatory democracy later this year with the launch of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI). This participatory agenda-setting tool allows one million European Union (EU) citizens to ask the European Commission to propose new legislation. Very simple in theory. Not so simple in practice. The ECI was created …
Who’s afraid of the world’s first transnational participatory democracy tool? Read More »
Back in 2008, with the EU stalled pending ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, the European Council appointed a high-level independent Reflection Group, headed by Felipe González, to propose solutions to numerous challenges facing the European Union in coming years – from economic coordination to foreign policy to reaching out to EU citizens. The recently released …
Reflection group offers few new ideas to engage EU citizens Read More »