National and European Political Parties and the European Citizens’ Initiative

Abstract

On the assumption that intermediary organisations and forces are important in the context of popular referenda, this article considers the role of national parties and Europarties (‘parties at European level’) in the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI). Parties are qualified to play a role on the basis of the functions they perform in the democratic political process, and their resources. The orientation of the ECI is primarily towards strengthening input rather than output legitimacy of the EU by incentivising transnational communication and networking processes. Here, Europarties and their respective foundations may use the ECI for their own development towards genuine party organisations at European level. Smaller and outsider parties at national level – often populist in their performance – may be interested in using the new instrument also.