Auch für europäische Ebene fordern verschiedene Initiativen ausgeloste Bürgerversammlungen, um über politische Veränderungen zu diskutieren und damit die Mitglieder des Europäischen Parlaments und der Kommission zu beraten. Gerade hat das “CARE-Project” (Citizen Assemblies for Renewing Engagement) Forderungen ausgewählter Bürger in Brüssel vorgestellt (den offenen Brief dazu gibt es unten.
Im CARE-Projekt sind derzeit kleine Organisationen aus vier Ländern zusammengeschlossen: WeMove.EU, a leading, pan-European, online campaigning organisation,
European Alternatives (Italien), Asociatia Efectul Fluture (Rumänien) und
DemNet (Ungarn). Diese vier Organisationen haben in ihren Ländern jeweils mit aus Bewerbungen ausgewählten Bürgern über die zukünftige Entwicklung Europas beraten.
Dieser Rekrutierungsmodus – freiwillige Bewerbung und dann Auswahl durch die Organisatoren nach Kriterien, die Repräsentativität herstellen sollen – wollen die CARE-Beteiligten unter Sprecher James Organ (Liverpool) offenbar auch bei der angestrebten Institutionalisierung der Citizens’ Assembly beibehalten, wie aus der “Record” genannten Grobkonzeption hervorgeht.
Nachfolgend der offene Brief sowie Links zu den Veranstaltungen und Organisatoren.
Ein ausführlicher Kommentar zur Problematik dieser wie ähnlicher Initiativen folgt in Kürze hier auf “Aleatorische-Demokratie.de”
Dear Members of the council of the EU, the European Parliament and the Commission,
There is an urgent need to reduce the distance felt between EU citizens and EU institutions, to challenge the rise of populism, and to renew citizen engagement in EU decision-making. The implementation of an EU Citizens’ Assembly would be a major step towards achieving this. This is the recommendation to you from EU citizens taking part in the project: Citizens’ Assembly to Renew Engagement (CARE) for the Future of Europe.
Over two weekends, representative groups of 25-30 citizens met in Berlin, Budapest, Cluj and Rome to discuss the question: how can we increase effective citizen engagement in debates about the future of Europe, and influence EU policy? Experts presented a range of citizen participation options. Participants deliberated on these options and their specific design choices in small, facilitated groups over two days, and then voted for their preferred options. The overall project conclusion was to recommend the implementation of an EU Citizens’ Assembly.
The CARE project has shown that a decentralised form of EU Citizens’ Assembly is feasible and almost all participants said they would take part in this type of event again. Participants though indicated a preference for a single citizens’ assembly at EU level. The assembly should be a part of the EU institutional framework and directly able to influence EU policy.
Participants stated it was very important for citizen participation to have a policy impact. They expected a guaranteed response from EU political institutions. Some participants went as far as to recommend that the EU citizens’ assembly decisions should initiate the legislative process.
However, the overall recommendation is for the citizens’ assembly decisions to be consultative. Citizen recommendations should exert political pressure, rather than be legally binding. Participants did not want to risk a challenge to fundamental rights through new participatory processes.
It is important that the EU citizens’ assembly be representative, diverse and transparent. A representative and diverse EU citizens’ assembly would increase inclusivity and bring a wider range of voices to strengthen EU democracy. This would ensure that the EU citizens’ assembly bolsters EU identity and the sense of a political community, and increases the legitimacy of EU policies and decision-making.
Although participants chose an EU citizens’ assembly, there was also strong support for EU-wide referendums. Importantly, participants did not see the different options for citizen participation as being mutually exclusive. Several participants recommended that different forms of citizen participation be combined. For example, participants suggested that an EU citizens’ assembly could be linked to an EU wide referendum, as happened recently in Ireland.
We, the undersigned, would like to endorse the recommendations of the EU citizens participating in the project: CARE for the Future of Europe, and call upon EU institutions to start the process towards implementation of an EU Citizens’ Assembly.
This process should include deliberation, such as that trialled in the CARE project, to develop citizen recommendations for the design of the Assembly, and to decide how to link it to other forms of citizen participation.
The EU should be proud of its democratic development to date. Now is the time to strengthen those achievements and renew EU democratic participation with an EU Citizens’ Assembly.
Protokoll Veranstaltung in Brüssel (27. November 2018)
https://www.citizensassemblies.eu/en/blog/european-parliament-discussion-record/EP%20event%20discussion%20record.docx
Hintergund Veranstaltung in Brüssel
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/citizens-assemblies-to-renew-engagement-for-the-future-of-europe-registration-52255158586#
Hintergrund Veranstaltung in Liverpool
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/citizens-assemblies-time-to-renew-european-democracy-tickets-49046125281?aff=eac2#
Kampagnen-Website:
https://www.citizensassemblies.eu/en
