Part of the Power Inquiry and the European Citizens Consultations blog entries.
by Oli Henman
As the British government faces up to the need to work constructively to define the future makeup of the European Union, it is vital that citizens are given the opportunity to fully participate in any new agreement. Recent announcements by Tony Blair that he would prefer a new treaty to allow for the European Union to work more effectively, rather than a full blown ‘European Constitution’ may offer the chance for the UK to engage pragmatically in the debate on the future of the EU, reform is necessary but it must directly include the people of Europe.
The European Union, as it stands, is run through a functioning but deeply confusing set of overlapping public bodies at the national and continental level. In order for it to regain credibility with electorates across the continent there is a growing need to include citizens directly in the decision-making process; to allow ordinary people to share in a sense of ownership over the process. There must be an open participatory approach to re-designing the EU’s structures, citizen participation takes many forms and should allow for a nuanced expression of citizens’ views.
A good example of what is possible is provided by the European Citizens’ Consultations, a series of deliberative events organised by a partnership of foundations across Europe supported by the European Commission. This process of consultation allows for a broad cross-section of citizens’ views to be expressed across the EU for the first time on the theme of: ‘what Europe do we want?’ Indeed while the heads of state and ministers of the European Union were meeting behind closed doors in Berlin, looking back over 50 years since the signing of the Treaty of Rome, the Power Inquiry hosted the European Citizens’ Consultation – UK, an open deliberative assembly of citizens from across the UK to look forwards and define key proposals for EU policy-makers. The agenda was entirely citizen-led; the main issues to be discussed were defined by citizens of all the EU countries at an Agenda-Setting Event in October, in this case they chose to make recommendations on the following areas: Energy & Environment; Family & Social Welfare; EU’s Global Role & Immigration.
The key concern was to reach across the dividing lines and to bring together people of all different backgrounds in each country of the EU. In the UK, a broad cross-section of citizens were brought to York, geographically close to the centre of the UK, to draft their own visions and proposals for the EU. To get a real diversity of views and backgrounds, the UK organisers at the Power Inquiry set out to define target numbers of people to get a demographic cross-section of the UK population, encompassing a range of factors such as gender, half male and half female; geographic region, drawn through regional hubs as far apart as Plymouth, Aberdeen, Belfast, Wrexham and Norwich; range of age groups; occupation; and ethnicity, with a clear representation of minority ethnic communities. In order to make the consultation process as accessible as possible, all the events were set to take place on week-ends and the participants guaranteed to receive compensation plus all travel and accommodation expenses.
Every EU member state has now hosted a National Consultation as a week-end of structured discussion that allows the participants to refine their own views on these topic areas. The proposals from all the member states will be brought together at a Final Consultation in Brussels, on May 9 (Europe Day) & 10 and these recommendations will then be presented to the European Commission at the EU Summit in June. [ MORE TAG ]
In drawing from the broader experience of participatory democracy from around the world, such as the ‘America Speaks’ deliberative process, the Citizens’ Assembly on electoral reform established in British Columbia and the Participatory Budget process of Brazil, for any deliberative event to be successful, two aspects are absolutely crucial: ownership and results.
Ownership
In the first place, it is clear that the process of the event must focus on allowing citizens to feel clear ownership over the decision-making. The participants have some core information provided, to give them an idea of the main areas of action and are then given time in table groups to talk through the issues with a facilitator, who ensures that the full range of views on the table are represented. After an initial brainstorming, the participants hear ideas from experts in each topic area before putting together an overall statement that reflects the views of their table and finally a single statement for the whole room.
It became clear at the European Citizens’ Consultation – UK that citizens are not afraid to express their views and in fact they were pleased to be given a space to discuss these issues. In general the UK event was a space for lively debate; people were able to tackle the issues, listened to each other and seemed to spend considerable time working out nuances of language, for example whether to tackle climate change through targets or incentives. Indeed it is clear that people are often very pleased to put forward their views, if they are given an opportunity to express themselves. in this case, when asked if they would do it again, 82% of participants said ‘Yes’, 14% said ‘Perhaps’ and only 3% said ‘No’. The key concern is to allow the participants to engage with the questions and to define their own priorities, following a citizen-led, structured debate.
Results
Beyond this, in terms of results, the obligation then falls with policy-makers to act upon the recommendations. A deliberative event that is not taken on board within core policy-making is dangerous in that it may even enhance the feeling of mistrust. Once a commitment is made to follow a deliberative path, there must be a binding agreement by policy-makers to respond to citizens proposals and to act in good faith on any recommendations that emerge. In the British Columbia model, for example, the recommendations that emerged from a series of deliberative meetings of the Citizens’ Assembly were then put to a binding referendum, this acts as a confidence vote on the recommendations.
The lessons of the last few years must no be ignored so that trust can gradually be rebuilt in the actions of political decision-makers. Deliberative events, such as the European Citizens’ Consultations provide a strong model for further citizen participation. It is through the process of participation itself that individuals and political actors re-connect with active citizenship; this allows the participants a chance to develop a greater sense of being part of the polity. Through listening to other points of view, working towards a common ground and being treated with dignity in their opinions, they are able to find more significance in political choices; they may begin to look deeper at the challenges in the society around them and thereby get involved in action to develop their own solutions to renew the democratic system. This is a crucial step to develop a more inclusive democracy that re-connects policy making to everyday life, with real participation led directly by citizens in dialogue with policy-makers. Without meaningful citizen participation, it is unlikely that the public will accept any further European treaties or institutional reforms.
