Institutions should involve more citizens in EU budget decisions, experts say [Advocacy Lab Content]

Europeans should have more say when it comes to spending the EU budget, as a way to boost citizens’ participation in EU policymaking, a panel of experts on democratic processes said during a Euractiv event on Thursday (22 February).

The event, supported by Demotec, an EU-funded project, focused on exploring and discussing the shape of democratic participation at different levels, with a focus on citizen participation in the so-called ‘participatory budgeting’.

The latter is a specific form of a deliberative democracy exercise where citizens are involved in policymaking when it comes to deciding on budget spending.

All panellists agreed that investing time and resources in participatory processes, such as deliberative democracy or participatory budgeting, is a way to connect with the public.

In today’s society, experts warned, citizens feel more and more distanced from institutions and policymakers.

“We have seen this disengagement, disconnection with the institutional bodies, a lack of trust in our democratic processes. It is critical that we find ways to reconnect,” Carol Thomas, policy advisor at the Council of European Municipalities and Regions said at the start of the debate.

The German member of the European Parliament Helmut Scholz argued that “EU institutions should be very clear about the aim, the tools, and in particular the follow-up process during the participation of citizens in the decision making”.

Participation vs elections?

The experts also pointed out that deliberative democracy exercises are not a way to replace representative democracy, with elections remaining the fundamental tool for citizen participation.

“When we talk about participatory democracy, we are not opposing it to representative democracy,” European Commission deputy head of unit on citizens’ dialogue, Gaëtane Ricard-Nihoul, explained during the event.

“What we refer to by participatory democracy is a way to associate citizens also in-between elections so that they are active citizens not only in the ballot box but also at other moments,” Ricard-Nihoul added.

Such kind of democratic experiments can occur at any legislative level: local, regional, national or even the EU level, as EU institutions have already done in the past.

“I think it is a good sign that we are all reflecting at this moment on the tools that might bring more participation to EU fiscal policies,” argued the civil society representative at the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) Elena Calistru.

“We can no longer keep the decisions related to how money is spent only at a very technical level. Civil society, either organised or at large, should be put at the same table and be made part of the decision-making process when it comes to the budgets,” the EESC representative told the event.

However, when it comes to discussing the budget at the continental level, the design of the discussion should include a strong local and national dimension, because “the national and local context also matters” András Farkas, strategic director at PONT group, a Romanian advocacy organisation on social policies and citizens participation, pointed out.

The existing framework

Under the existing rules, there is some involvement of civil society and citizens in the EU law-making process and decisions on spending EU cohesion funds.

Referring to the ordinary EU legislative procedure, Eduard Folch, European Commission policy officer for budget matters, explained that “we have open public consultations carried out before the Commission puts forward the relevant legislative proposals that then will be agreed by Parliament and Council”.

In these consultations, citizens, companies, beneficiaries of EU funding, member states, and stakeholders are involved, Folch said.

“In addition to the other initiatives already on the table, and specifically for financial matters, we also have to recognise the potential of participatory budgeting to empower communities, and that we have seen in the implementation of cohesion funds,” Folch added.

According to the Commission website, “the Cohesion Fund supports investments in the field of environment and trans-European network in the area of transport infrastructure”.

“Cohesion funds, which represent one-third of the EU budget, are implemented in accordance with the so-called partnership principle, which involves authorities at European, national, regional and local level, together with social partners and organisations from civil society”. Folch explained.

“We have seen that it makes a difference […] And I am sure it is not the last occasion that we will have an exchange of views on it,” Folch concluded.

This article follows the Euractiv-organised policy debate “A dialogue on democracy – Exploring participatory budgeting and citizen participation in the EU” supported by DEMOTEC.