Federation for Innovation in Democracy - Europe
FIDE
The Federation for Innovation in Democracy - Europe is a network of leading democratic innovators in Europe.
ID: 636040346327-91
Lobbying Activity
Response to Recommendation on covert interference from third countries
13 Apr 2023
The Federation for Innovation in Democracy Europe (FIDE) welcomes the sense of urgency that is present in the outline of the upcoming Defense of Democracy Package. These are precarious times for democracy. For FIDE, making sure elections are fair and without foreign interference is crucial, but this is nevertheless only the minimal basic standard for a thriving democracy. We need to be more ambitious! FIDE believes that deliberative democratic methods are the most promising democratic innovation to strengthen our democracies next to elections. These methods have been applied all over the EU in the last decade from the national to the local level and these experiences have proven that deliberative democracy can deliver on its promise. The EU has had the experience of the Conference on the Future of Europe and the Commission has started using Citizen Panels in its policy-making work. The Defense of Democracy package should show ambition to continue down this path. The document on the package mentions deliberative democracy, but without much specification of how this method will be supported by the package. FIDE would recommend: -That the EU becomes a standard bearer for good practice principles in deliberative methods. Such principles have been put forward by the Council of Europe and the OECD, but the EU does not yet have its own explicit set of standards in this field. Such principles could be part of a Charter for EU officials on Citizens Participation. The establishment of such a Charter is one of the Plenary Proposals of the Conference on the Future of Europe. -That the Commission should continue with Citizen Panels in its work using deliberative methods and make them a standard element in its policymaking. A reflection group with international experts should be brought together to evaluate the first three panels to improve their work in the next Commission. -That a good sign for the EUs ambition in Citizen Participation would be the creation of a specific department that is tasked to coordinate all the citizen participation work of the Commission. The Competence Centre for Participatory and Deliberative Democracy of course be a clear partner for such a new department or service, as is the staff working on the current citizen outreach and participation processes of the Commission in other DGs. -That the EU budget should reflect its ambition in citizen participation. Deliberative processes are more expansive than many other forms of participation, but this also requires enough resources to deliver them. This should be reflected in the budget accorded to deliberative and participatory processes. -There have been some initial experiments by DG Regio to connect the use of cohesion funds to the use of deliberative processes. This work should be expanded so citizens living in a region know that fellow citizens have been involved in the allocation of such funds. -Finally, the vice-president of the Commission for Democracy has been instrumental in giving support for a cohort on deliberative democracy to the 2023 Biden Summit for Democracy. Going forward, the EU should also become an advocate for a more ambitious citizen participation such as deliberative methods in international fora and conferences.
Read full responseMeeting with Dubravka Šuica (Vice-President)
16 May 2022 · Deliberative and participative democracy