The European Citizens’ Initiative: the territorial extension of a European political public sphere?

ABSTRACT

A key aim of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) introduced in 2012 was to promote transnational discussion and deliberation, but there is relatively little analysis of the impact of this feature. We use primary and secondary data collection to examine the legacies left by almost 50 ECI campaigns at the conclusion of their official status, identifying mixed results. Using data drawn from interviews with 22 Citizen Committees, we identify and assess ECI campaigns which have disappeared with little trace of continued networks of communication, and at the other end of the spectrum, we find a notable reach of campaigns into some Central and East European countries, in which a young cohort of post-student campaigners attracted by the use of new technologies for campaigning feature prominently. In recognition of debates about the prospects for EU democratisation which transnational contestation might provide, we identify from continuing campaigns shared features which may provide clues as to the formation of political public spheres across national boundaries.

KEYWORDS:

• European Citizens’ Initiative
• European public and political spheres

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge comments on earlier drafts of this paper presented at the annual conferences of the Council for European Studies (Paris, July 2015), the University Association for Contemporary European Studies (Bilbao, September 2015), and from anonymous journal reviewers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Signature thresholds per country are weighted in relation to the size of populations.

2. Regulation (EU) No. 211/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 on the citizens’ initiative.

3. The task of translating ECIs into the 24 official languages of the EU has recently been undertaken by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC).

4. It is nonetheless clear from the three campaigns to have met the 1 million signature threshold that such attainment requires the driving backing provided by a professionalised social movement.

5. Examples of diversification of agendas for political institutions would include: Weed Like to Talk (legalise cannabis); End Legalised Prostitution in Europe; An End to Front Companies; protecting eavesdropping on lawyer-client interactions; help for pet & stray animals; punishing Switzerland for its treatment of migrant workers; and end to bullfighting; singing the European anthem in Esperanto; etc.

6. ‘Water and sanitation are a human right! Water is a public good, not a commodity!’ (see Table 1), in which Germany accounted for around two-thirds of the EU wide total of almost 1.9 million signatures collected.

7. Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

8. From seven different EU member states, weighted for the size of the country, defined in Regulation 211/2011 operationalising the ECI (see footnote 3) and specified at http://ec.europa.eu/citizens-initiative/public/signatories.

9. Single Communications Tariff; Let me Vote; End Ecocide in Europe; European Initiative for Media Pluralism. Vite l’Europe sociale! Pour un nouveau critère européen contre la pauvreté is currently open for signature as For a Socially Fair Europe! Encouraging a stronger cooperation between EU member states to fight poverty in Europe.

10. The first Unconditional Basic Income ECI proposal, subsequently registered in modified format, was set apart from this category, as it was included for analysis in the group of campaigns running their course without meeting the required threshold.

11. Not in Table 2, but analysed as the successor proposals subsequently registered.

12. STOP TTIP, supporting organisations, https://stop-ttip.org/supporting-organisations/, accessed on 11 August 2015.

13. STOP TTIP, no to corporations dictating legislation! https://stop-ttip.org/blog/no-to-corporations-dictating-legislation/, accessed on 11 August 2015.

14. Medical organisations supporting vaping and E-cigarettes. https://sciencecig.wordpress.com/move/, accessed on 11 August 2015.

15. https://blockupy.org/en/ accessed on 11 August 2015.

16. Jamie Oliver on TTIP: ‘I really don’t want beef with growth hormones, nor chicken washed with chlorine … and I certainly don’t want our farmers undermined’. STOP TTIP, If you Love Good Food and Farming, Stop TTIP!, https://stop-ttip.org/blog/if-you-love-good-food-farming-stop-ttip/, accessed on 11 August 2015.

17. End Ecocide, Vivienne Westwood supports End Ecocide’, https://www.endecocide.org/, accessed on 11 August 2015.

18. Email exchange with Klaus Sambor, UBI Campaign Committee, February 5, 2014. 32,006 signatures were obtained by the UBI campaign in Bulgaria.

19. Bulgarian trade union supported the Unconditional Basic Income and Education is an Investment! ECIs.

20. Such was the case for example with ‘European Initiative for Media Pluralism’ ECI which in Hungary framed the campaign with concerns of freedom of speech restrictions implemented by the current Hungarian government led by Viktor Orbán. The ‘Education is an Investment!’, which collected over 100,000 signatures had its centre in Greece. It focused on objecting austerity measures on education relevant in the Greek financial crisis, but which also attracted significant support from nearby Bulgaria and Cyprus.