Direct Democracy in the EU –The Myth of a Citizens’ Union. CEPS Paperback, November 2018

Blockmans, Steven. and Bialozyt , Wojciech and Bilčík , Vladimír and Brandes , Erik and Breinschmid , Christoph and Bukovskis , Kārlis and Chatzistavrou , Filippa and Fuksiewicz , Aleksander and Geks , Rasmuss Filips and Gostyńska-Jakubowska , Agata and Gutiérrez-Peris , Dídac and Iso-Markku , Tuomas and Jokela , Juha and Kovář , Jan and Kratochvíl , Petr Kratochvíl and Kucharczyk , Jacek and Legieć , Arkadiusz and Lorente , Javier and Mavrov , Borislav and Morillas , Pol and Oppenheim , Beth and Poli , Eleonora and Primatarova , Antoinette and Russack , Sophia and Sánchez Margalef , Héctor and Schenuit , Felix and Schmidt , Paul and Sebe , Mihai and Smilov , Daniel and Sørensen , Catharina and Sychra , Zdeněk and Vaș , Eliza and Vasileva , Nikoleta and Vizgunova , Elizabete and von Ondarza , Nicolai and Youngs, Richard. and Schaller, Stephan (2018) Direct Democracy in the EU –The Myth of a Citizens’ Union. CEPS Paperback, November 2018. Series > Centre for European Policy Studies (Brussels) > CEPS Paperbacks . UNSPECIFIED. ISBN 978-1-78660-999-1

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Abstract

The European Union has a democracy problem. The polycrisis that has plagued the EU for years has led to a cacophony of voices calling for fundamental change to the integration project. Yet despite the shock of the Brexit referendum and the electoral upsets caused by nativist parties across the continent, few of the plans for EU reform include concrete proposals to address the perennial democratic deficit. This book looks at how the relationship between citizens, the state and EU institutions has changed in a multi-layered Union. As such, it focuses more on polity than on populism, and does not engage deeply with policy or output legitimacy. Building on the notion of increasing social, economic and political interdependence across borders, this book asks whether a sense of solidarity and European identity can be rescued from the bottom up by empowering citizens to ‘take back control’ of their Union. Direct Democracy in the EU: The Myth of a Citizens’ Union is part of the 'Towards a Citizens’ Union' project and is the product of collaboration with 20 renowned think tanks from the European Policy Institutes Network (EPIN). It is the first of three publications that will also cover the state of representative democracy in the EU and the accountability of democratic institutions.

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