Options for Improving e-Participation at the EU Level

In this chapter, Nielsen et al. propose options for improvinge-participation at the EU level without changing underlying legal frameworks. Inresponse to the challenges to e-participation, which arise out of current institutionaldesigns, the authors make creative use of the research results presented earlier in thebook to suggest‘low-hanging fruits’for practical reform. The challenges addressedinclude the relative weakness of individual citizens’participation compared to that ofCSO’s, the weakness of the Parliament in the legislative process and the continuedde-coupling of the EU policy process from the will of the European citizens. Whilethe chapter proposes no easyfixes, it points to some obvious practical steps forward.To improve existing participation mechanisms, the authors recommend providingimproved support to citizens using the ECI, investing in the back-office supportneeded for the EP Petitions Portal to realize its potential and improving the scalabil-ity of Your Voice in Europe through advanced data analysis. They also make fournovel proposals,first among which is to experiment with participatory budgeting inrelation to the Regional and Social Funds. The chapter ends with a plea for a long-term vision of a unified European participation structure to gather and harness thepotentials of individual mechanisms.