Europe should be above all a union of citizens, not just of states and markets

EU leaders may think EU citizens are well-informed about democratic instruments such as the European Citizens’ Initiative, but the reality is surprisingly different.

A YouGov poll published on Europe Day showed that only 2.4% of EU citizens in the four member states surveyed know what the European Citizens’ Initiative is and what is does.

A YouGov Survey organised by Eumans and backed by New Europeans, Citizens Take Over Europe and many other Civil Society Groups. 

It turns out that citizen activists are just as remote from the EU institutions as MEPs and Commission officials.

Should we be concerned about this and what can we do about it? How can citizens break down barriers on the way to a more inclusive approach to politics?

The answers depend on how seriously we take the idea of a Europe of the citizens and what we mean by the term.

At the time when the European institutions were first created, the key drivers of what would happen next in Europe were statesmen: figures like De Gasperi, Schuman, Spaak, Adenauer and De Gaulle. These founding fathers, and they were all men in those days, created what we have come to know as the Europe of nations and states.

In the next major phase of Europe’s development, we created what I refer to as “Europe 2” the Europe of markets and money. In this phase, which coincided with the signing of the Single European Act, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Maastricht Treaty, banks and corporations were the key protagonists and Europe was reshaped accordingly.

New Europeans celebrate 25 years since the coming into force of the Maastricht Treaty with "Maastricht generation" of students in the Limburg Provincial Government Building, Maastricht, 1 November 2018 with Maastricht University and the Provincial Government

I would argue that we now stand at the threshold of “Europe 3” – the Europe of citizens. This is the Europe of civil society, of cities and of the people who live in Europe and make up the European diaspora. I would include in this, permanent residents of the EU who do not have a passport of an EU member state but who are part of European society.

The historic achievement of Europe 1 has been to give Europe peace, while Europe 2 has delivered prosperity, albeit not yet for all. The mission of Europe 3 must be to make Europe more democratic, inclusive and equal. That is also the key to the resilience of the European model. Europe is not just a union of states and markets. It is above all a union of citizens.

In the Europe of citizens, we would not experience the kind of alienation and detachment that many residents of the EU currently experience when they think about the European institutions. There would be a quantum leap in democratic engagement, at all levels of decision-making, local, regional, national and European.

That matters, because democratic societies govern by consent. Without legitimacy, the settlement represented by the delicate balance between inter-governmental and supra-national institutions in Europe is constantly under threat.

Right-wing European populist leaders would never, in my view, take their member state out of “Europe 1” – the Europe of nations and states. But who is to say they would not withdraw from the Euro, from Schengen, or even from some aspects of the Single Market if it came to it (“Europe 2”)?

Democracy is fragile, but in a fast-moving world there is a second reason why a Europe of the citizens matters. No leader has a monopoly of wisdom about what the right policies will be – citizens bring new ideas, and new policy solutions that can be put to work to make a better, stronger Europe. We cannot afford to miss out on this contribution.

An excellent example of the kind of policy changes needed in Europe is the plethora of European citizens’ initiatives currently active as well as many if not most of the previous ones such as the Right to Water.

The climate crisis and the COVID pandemic both point to the need for bold, transformative social change which can only be driven from the ground up. Many of the current ECIs speak to what needs to change in Europe in the context of the recovery – a universal basic income, a tax on carbon, votes for all mobile EU citizens wherever they live in Europe.

The European Recovery Programme, representing as it does a doubling of the EU budget over the next seven years, is an unprecedented opportunity to change Europe.

How can we imagine that these resources will be well or even carefully spent if we don’t hear the voice of the citizens?

European citizens’ initiatives are also a very good example of citizens taking responsibility for overcoming the gap with the institutions. In the past, there has perhaps been a perception on the part of many institutional stakeholders that citizens were not to be trusted – that attitude has to change and is changing.

European leaders launch the Conference on the Future of Europe, European Parliament, Strasbourg, 9 May 2021. Credit: European Union

We need to recognize that those of us engaged in European politics as citizens are just as “privileged” as those who have entered the institutions. The YouGov survey shows that citizens know very little about the instruments that are available to them to shape the future of the EU.

With the launch of the Conference on the Future of Europe, the EU has a once in a generation opportunity to overcome this ‘attention deficit’ and reconnect with citizens.

That will only happen if it is citizens and citizens’ movements that bring the Conference on the Future of Europe to life as a genuine grassroots exercise in deliberative democracy.

The prize for such engagement should be the setting up more permanent mechanisms for citizen participation between elections. Engaging more of Europe’s citizens in decision-making is not a threat to the EU – it may very well turn out to be its salvation.

60 years ago, John F Kennedy said “Ask not what your country can do – ask what you can do for your country”

In our time, in Europe we might say: “Ask not what Europe can do for you – tell us what you can do for Europe.”

New Europeans' call to action: Ask now that Europe can do for you - tell us what you can do for Europe

To see what some of the members of New Europeans said when we asked them this question, click here.

What is your answer to this timeless question?

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed on the ECI Forum reflect solely the point of view of their authors and can in no way be taken to reflect the position of the European Commission or of the European Union.