Facing Democratic Crisis in the EU: the New European Citizens’ Initiative Regulation

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-147
Author(s):  
Diego González Cadenas
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Democratic Deficit ◽  
European Public Sphere ◽  
European Public ◽  
Technical Issues ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Effective Development ◽  
Popular Initiative ◽  
Legitimacy Crisis ◽  
The Eu

For some scholars, the possibilities for diminishing the European democratic deficit and the Union’s legitimacy crisis are intertwined with the creation of a European demos and a European public sphere, that, in turn, can create a European civil solidarity. The European citizens’ initiative, which has recently been re-regulated, was precisely designed to help to solve these problems. As we shall see, the new Regulation includes a whole series of positive technical issues that will improve the usage of the mechanism. However, the European citizens’ initiative is still far from being a popular initiative and, therefore, to contribute to diminish the perception of distance between institutions and citizens of the EU or promoting the creation of a European demos. In this vein, after an overview of the European citizens’ initiative new Regulation main innovations and weaknesses, I will present a set of measures in order to achieve a more effective development of the mechanism.

The European Public Sphere and the Deficit of Democracy

2000 ◽  
Vol 48 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 125-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reiner Grundmann
Keyword(s):  
Public Education ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
National Level ◽  
European Identity ◽  
Democratic Deficit ◽  
European Level ◽  
Media Attention ◽  
European Public Sphere ◽  
European Public ◽  
The Media

This chapter explores a threefold European deficit: a democratic deficit, a deficit in European identity, and a deficit in the European public sphere. It argues that although interests such as social movements have most leverage at the national level, since this is the level at which the media are largely organised, the emergence of distinctively ‘European’ issues such as BSE means that national cycles of media attention are becoming increasingly synchronised. This makes it more likely that a homogenisation of issues and opinion will occur at the European level. This would favour the eventual emergence of a supranational identity. The creation of a European public sphere through the synchronisation and homogenisation of cycles of media attention on contentious ‘European’ issues is a more realistic prospect than direct attempts to create a ‘new European’ identity through public education or the legal system.

scholarly journals Institutional organizations’ use of social media to communicate EU policy and the emergence of a European public sphere

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 111-129
Author(s):  
Luca Pareschi ◽  
Edoardo Mollona ◽  
Vitaliano Barberio ◽  
Ines Kuric
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Negative Attitude ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Cohesion Policy ◽  
Media Communication ◽  
European Public Sphere ◽  
European Public ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
The Eu

Cohesion Policy accounts for the European Union main investment budget and seeks to strengthen economic, social and territorial cohesion. While accomplishments in this field are constantly measured, European citizens are not always aware of policy’s impact and of the role the EU plays therein. This issue is relevant, as communication of social policy is central to the emergence of the European public sphere, an acknowledged condition to foster European integration.In this work we aim at advancing research on the European public sphere through an analysis of the social media communication of EU cohesion policy by ten LMAs. We build on a bottom-up construction of shared meaning structures through semi-automatic techniques of analysis and highlight three main results: first, ‘horizontal Europeanization’ takes place on social media; second, Europeanization occurs both as the spontaneous integration of shared discontent expressed by citizens, and by the institutionalization of top-down procedures of communication adopted by LMAs; Third, a cluster of topics articulated internationally and conveying a negative attitude towards the EU funding scheme suggests that, counter-intuitively, Euroskepticism seems to facilitate the building of a European public sphere.

scholarly journals Going transnational? Candidates' transnational linkages on Twitter during the 2019 European Parliament elections

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Stier
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Institutional Reform ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Order Logic ◽  
Democratic Deficit ◽  
Euro Pean ◽  
European Public ◽  
European Parliament Elections ◽  
Second Order Logic ◽  
The Eu

How transnational are European Parliament (EP) campaigns? Building on research on the Euro-pean public sphere and the politicisation of the EU, this study investigates to what extent the 2019 EP campaign was transnational and which factors were associated with ‘going transna-tional’. It conceptualises Twitter linkages of EP candidates as constitutive elements of a transna-tional campaign arena distinguishing interactions with EP candidates from other countries (hori-zontal transnationalisation) and interactions with the supranational European party families and lead candidates (vertical transnationalisation). The analysis of tweets sent by EP candidates from all 28 member states reveals that most linkages remain national. Despite this evidence for the second-order logic, there are still relevant variations contingent on EU positions of parties, the adoption of the Spitzenkandidaten system and socialisation in the EP. The findings have impli-cations for debates on the European public sphere and institutional reform proposals such as transnational party lists that might mitigate the EU’s democratic deficit.

scholarly journals Europe in local news

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariel C. Pluschke
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Local News ◽  
European Public Sphere ◽  
Local Newspapers ◽  
European Public ◽  
Depth Study ◽  
The Eu

Local newspapers are rarely in the focus of research on the European public sphere. However, due to their various democratic functions, they should not be neglected and may help to build a European public sphere. This article presents the results of an in-depth study of local newspapers by asking: a) How and to what extent can local newspapers contribute to the construction of a European public sphere by Europeanisation of the local public through reporting on the EU? b) Which factors have an effect on how local newspapers report on EU topics? This paper synthesises theories and models of the European public to develop hypotheses, which are then tested in interviews with six local German journalists. It finds that local newspapers can promote the emergence of a European public sphere and that news factors, resources, individual attitudes and editorial frameworks do have an impact on their EU reporting.

scholarly journals German Quality in the Service of a European Public Sphere? An Analysis of the Deutsche Welle’s European Journal program

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Oana Ludmila Popescu
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Communication Link ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Public Sphere ◽  
European Dimension ◽  
European Public ◽  
Tv Program ◽  
The Media ◽  
Deutsche Welle ◽  
The Eu

<p>The economic crisis of the European Union has rendered the European public sphere as a forever emerging concept marked by uncertainties regarding its structure. In this context, eyes of both European officials and citizens turn towards the media, the main communication link between the EU and its citizens. The present paper looks at a media product that is designed to permeate multiple national public spheres, the weekly news show <em>European Journal</em>, a half-hour TV program produced by Deutsche Welle and rebroadcast by partner TV channels throughout Europe. Considering the main characteristics of the European public sphere as identified in the literature, with a focus on <em>horizontal Europeanization, </em>and using the method of content analysis, this paper looks at the means employed by the European Journal to support the integration process and to add a European dimension to national public sphere. Findings suggest that the type of public sphere promoted by the <em>European Journal </em>is not centered around the EU as a distinct entity, but around the member states, approach which supports the idea of a <em>horizontal Europeanization</em>.</p>

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