Explaining willingness to use the European Citizens’ Initiative: Political cynicism, anti-EU attitudes and voting weight of member states

Abstract

Drawing on insights from the literatures on direct democracy and the European Union’s (EU) democratic deficit, this study is the first to analyze the likelihood of EU citizens’ use of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI). Using an ordered logistic regression analysis, it investigates whether EU citizens’ degree of cynicism, attitudes toward EU membership and their country’s vote share in the Council of the EU affect their willingness to use the ECI. The results show that European citizens who are more critical of the way the EU institutions work are less likely to intend to use the ECI. The results also indicate that attitudes toward EU membership and member states’ voting shares in the Council do not have a significant impact on the likelihood of using the ECI, after controlling for social, political and economic factors. These findings imply that cynicism at the EU level translates into further alienation from European politics rather than willingness to use the ECI to bridge democratic gaps in the EU. Thus, it seems the ECI currently does not give citizens a sense of partnership and voice in EU governance.