Just days before the 2024 European Elections, on 27 May 2024 the Transnational Democracy Cluster of the European University Institute will host the presentation of the thought-provoking recently published book Democracy Without Politics in EU Citizen Participation: From European Demoi to Decolonial Multitude, by Alvaro Oleart.
The book is one of the most updated diagnosis of the state of European democracy after the end of the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE), the organisation of the post-CoFoE European Citizens Panels and the recent controversies around the follow up to successful European Citizens Initiatives, such as End the Cage Age. Notably, the book contrasts the ‘democracy without politics’ approach in the EU's citizen participation exercises in the context of the CoFoE (and the subsequent citizen panels organised by the Commission) with that of ongoing transnational activist processes.
The panel will identify the challenges of European democracy in the 21st century, including those related to democratic innovations and the structural depoliticisation of EU politics. The discussion will draw new lines of reflection on the role of civil society and social movements in the democratisation of the European Union.
STG Research Fellow Gaia Taffoni will chair the event. EUI Professor Kalypso Nicolaidis, scientific coordinator of the Democratic Odyssey, will give some introductory remarks, followed by the presentation of the book by Alvaro Oleart, and the discussants will be Nicholas Milanese, Director of European Alternatives and Visiting Fellow at the EUI, Mine Kösem Çinay, Policy Leader Fellow, Virginia Fiume, Policy Leader Fellow and member of Citizens Take Over Europe coalition, and Nicolas Palomo, 2nd Year MA Student and author of the report by the European Parliament 'Regulatory frameworks for citizen-initiated instruments of direct democracy'.