International and supranational organisations affect peoples’ lives globally in many different spheres, from the European Union (EU) to the United Nations, the World Bank, World Health Organisation and beyond. These big organisations are the ones often lacking democratic legitimacy, and yet citizens have little to no influence over decisions they take.
Transnational citizen deliberation has already been tried and tested, most recently at the EU level thanks to the Conference on the Future of Europe. The EU Commission has proposed to make deliberative Citizens' Panels a permanent feature.
DemocracyNext is collaborating with the European University Institute School of Transnational Governance to explore how the EU in particular could become genuinely democratic by implementing empowered deliberative institutions at its heart.
The paper "Towards an EU system of empowered Citizens’ Assemblies: Why, What, and How" (2023) by Carsten Berg, Claudia Chwalisz, Kalypso Nicolaidis, and Yves Sintomer outlines proposals for a permanent and empowered EU Citizens’ Assembly.
Kalypso Nicolaïdis, European University Institute
