Equilibrio istituzionale e modelli di partecipazione democratica. Considerazioni in vista della Conferenza sul futuro dell'Europa

Focusing on the procedure and the conditions governing the European Citizens Initiative (ECI), this essay aims to investigate how European citizens affect the European law-making process, handled by the European Institutions, especially the Commission. The increase in litigation before the Court of Justice of the European Union confirms the growing use of this channel of participatory democracy, as well as the need to define the border line in relation to the prerogatives of the European Commission. This concerns both a “general” tool such as the ECI, and specific tools of democratic participation that characterize the decision-making processes in specific sectors, such as social policy. Following this analysis are some considerations from the perspective of the Conference on the Future of Europe, in the context of which the strengthening of the instruments for the participation of European citizens is called for, in a complementary relationship with respect to a possible strengthening of representative democracy.