EU Citizen Participation and the ECI: The TTIP Legacy

Abstract

This article examines citizen participation in the TTIP negotiation process as a case study of the democratic legitimacy of EU external affairs. The starting point is an analysis of the Commission’s justification for refusing to register the proposed Stop TTIP European Citizens Initiative (ECI), followed by assessment of the changes to transparency and the ISDS, which were two of the key demands of the campaign. Conclusions are drawn about the Commission’s attitude towards participation and transparency, and what the implications are for EU democracy in the context of International Agreements such as TTIP. These conclusions are based on three categories of citizen participation: transparency with little or no participation, secondly a democratically weak approach to participation as a means to improve the effectiveness of governance and support existing policy, and thirdly, effective citizen participation as part of strong democratic legitimacy that facilitates citizen influence over the policy agenda and the possibility of challenge to existing policy preferences. It is argued that the Commission has made some progress in terms of the transparency of International Agreements, but does not take a strongly democratic position regarding citizen participation in external affairs policy. Instead participation, when it is allowed by the Commission, is limited to engaging with citizens as passive actors who can support the effectiveness of EU governance, rather than active participants who can strongly influence the policy agenda and its outcomes.