Youngs, R., Carnegie Europe, 2023.

European politics have been hobbled by a complex trilemma of the green transition, social justice, and democracy. Rather than approaching this puzzle in terms of trade-offs, European governments should employ open forms of democratic engagement to cultivate positive linkages.

Den Dooven, W.; Egmont – Royal Institute for International Relations, 2022.

The Conference on the Future of Europe had its official start on 9 May 2021 and the process has brought together citizens and politicians in the Conference plenary with the aim of discussing recommendations on the future of the EU and its policies. As the Conference comes to its conclusions, the question of what will come after is becoming all the more salient. By answering the question of why citizens’ participation matters and looking at some examples of deliberative democracy, the question on what could be the outcome of the Conference process will be dealt with, and discuss the role the 2024 Belgian Council Presidency could play in its tracks.

Hanns Seidel Stiftung, ELIAMEP, 2022.

The Conference on the Future of Europe signaled the end of an ambitious deliberative process that aimed to revitalize democracy, in a period of political polarization and rising populism, in Europe and beyond. Citizens from all EU member-states joined forces to reflect upon the scope and pace of further European integration, bringing the EU closer to its core legitimizing principal, namely the European demos. Regardless of the final outcome that may have fallen short of many participants’ expectations, the Conference showed the added value of a complementary deliberative dimension to the existing representative one in the EU democratic modus operandi.

Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2022.

This report by the High Level Advisory Group of the Conference Observatory analyses the proceedings of the Conference on the Future of Europe in depth, offers recommendations on how to make the Conference a success, and sketches out different avenues towards a sustained impact of the conference on the EU’s democratic system.

Mellier, Cl., Wilson, R., Carnegie Europe, 2023.

The 2021 Global Assembly was an attempt to create a citizen-led governance chamber that connected institutions, civil society, and grassroots communities. Making this format permanent would allow global citizens to be actively involved in long-term decisions on climate change.

Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2022.

Four out of five European citizens want to have a bigger say in EU policymaking. Already now, they can participate in the European Union through elections, citizens’ initiatives, consultations, petitions, dialogues, and the Ombudsman. But how well do these participation instruments work? Do citizens know about them? What is their impact on EU policymaking?