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Citizens’ Europe

3. Wider instruments: Listening and empowering?

To ensure everyone’s voice is heard and to measure social sentiment across Europe, the EU funds a range of instruments. These are more complex and require significant input on the part of citizens, from taking part in surveys to signing and submitting petitions:

• Eurobarometer: surveys and opinion polls
• European Citizens’ Initiative: grassroots petitions

a) Eurobarometer (EB) is the Commission’s flagship survey, tracking public opinion every spring and autumn in the ‘Standard EB’. Mapping trends since 1973, Eurobarometer has regular questions on trust in EU institutions, how democracy works in the EU, and feelings about the future of the ‘European project’.

One of the most relevant questions for this dossier is: “how well represented do you feel in the EU?” In the autumn 2009 EB, a majority of Europeans (53%) did not think their voice counted in the EU, while just over a third (38%) believed the opposite (and 9% said they didn’t know).

Each survey is weighted according to the population of the country. This works out as 2000 face-to-face interviews for Germany, 1300 for the UK (including Northern Ireland), 600 for Luxembourg, etc. The Commission says it uses this feedback in the “preparation of texts, decision-making and the evaluation of its work”.

In addition, topical themes are addressed in Special EBs, with examples in 2010 including attitudes towards tobacco and alcohol, patient safety and healthcare, and gender equality.

Other tools include Flash EBs comprising ad hoc phone interviews. These allow the Commission to gain quick results while focusing on certain target groups. Examples in 2010 include the social impact of the financial crisis, quality of life in European cities, and attitudes towards tourism.

EB Qualitative Studies take a deeper look into the motivations, feelings and reactions of certain social groups towards a given subject, by listening and analysing their way of expressing themselves in discussion groups or open interviews. Examples in 2008-9 include perceptions and knowledge of Internal Market, and the image of EU science and research.

There are special sections on major European themes like the single currency, enlargement, and EU Elections. Other surveys and studies address major topics concerning European citizenship: social affairs, health, culture, information technology, environment, defence, etc.

EB is a popular reference at the Commission’s midday briefing and was even dubbed the ‘jewel in the crown’ by Jonathan Faull, the former head of DG Press. Widely quoted in mainstream news and blogs alike, it is not, however, immune to controversy.

In November 2003, a provocative questionnaire found Israel to present “the greatest threat to world peace”. Nearly 60% of more than 7500 Europeans interviewed put Israel ahead of Iran and North Korea, prompting one Israeli minister, Natan Sharansky, to complain of “rampant brainwashing” and “demonising of Israel” in the EU.

However, Israel’s then foreign minister, Silvan Shaom, said there was no need to “dramatise” such polls, a sentiment underlined by EU spokesman Gerassimos Thomas, who said that policy was not defined according to polls alone.

b) European Citizens’ Initiative: "This is all about taking the E.U. outside of the Brussels beltway and giving it full democratic expression. The E.U. often stands accused of complexity and detachment from its citizens. Fostering a lively cross-border debate about what we are doing in Brussels will lead to better rule-making, inspired by the grass roots." Commissioner Maros Sefcovic

The European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) aims to ensure more direct democracy via grassroots lobbying. One million EU citizens from one third of EU states (i.e. nine out of 27) can now call on the Commission to draft legislation in areas where it has authority. Petitions can be submitted either online or on paper.

Under current plans, petition organisers will have 12 months to collect all these signatures, which must be accompanied by date of birth, address, and even ID number.

When the draft regulation was presented on 31 March 2010, bloggers and civil society groups (i.e. the core target group) reacted strongly to the time limit and data requirements. Backed by 118 NGOs, blogger Carsten Bergs says “Intrusive personal data requirements could deter supporters… by raising public fears of violation of privacy and identity theft.” He is also critical of the lack of practical support for translations for instance and unclear follow-up, adding “We now know what we have to do, but we don’t know what we get”.

For blogger Jon Worth, “requiring ID card or social security numbers from signatories, is utterly ludicrous. I also particular like Annex II of the draft that requires those submitting a petition to state what legal base their initiative has – how many European citizens even know what a legal base is?” From another angle, Janis Emmanouilidis from the European Policy Centre says the ECI could fall “prey to a 'tyranny of minorities' backed by resourceful and well-organized interest groups” because “one million people is a low threshold”.

Another question raised during and after the public consultation was: who will the initiative empower? MEP Syed Kamall says: "This initiative should give power to the people, not to lobbyists and interest groups… it must not be hijacked to push the agenda of interest groups… Organisations will undoubtedly be involved in coordinating the collection of signatures but they must be completely transparent regarding their funding.”

One interesting reversal, however, would be if consumer groups or communities pay communications firms to collect signatures and submit petitions.

Announcing the draft regulation, the Commission hoped the Council and Parliament would reach final agreement on the ECI before the end of 2010 , enabling the first petitions to be submitted in 2011.