ABSTRACT
Participatory governance is seen as an important component – actual or potential – of the European Union's (EU) democratic legitimacy. Articles 44–6 of the draft Constitutional Treaty state that, in addition to the principles of equality and representation, the EU is based on the principle of participatory democracy. Along similar lines, the European Commission's 2001 White Paper on European Governance (European Commission 2001) stresses the need to improve participation to increase the EU's democratic legitimacy. For example, the White Paper acknowledges that there ‘is currently a lack of clarity about how consultations are run and to whom the institutions listen’. To address this, the Commission promises to ‘reduce the risk of the policy-makers just listening to one side of the argument or particular groups getting privileged access on the basis of sectoral interests or nationality, which is clearly a weakness with the current method of ad hoc consultations’ (ibid.: 17). The White Paper also emphasizes the need to increase openness of policy-making: the ‘aim should be to create a transnational ‘‘space’’ where citizens from different countries can discuss what they perceive as being the important challenges for the Union. This should help policy makers to stay in touch with European public opinion’ (ibid.: 12).
