Civil Society, Democracy and the European Citizens’ Initiative: What’s the Missing Link?

Starting with an analysis of EU legal sources, this article will first highlight the rising interest in the participation of Civil Society in the EU integration process as a possible remedy to bridge the gap between supranational governance and citizens; in a second step, it will discuss the ambiguous use of the term “Civil Society” in the European debate. Hence it will present the role of Civil Society in the policy-making process as an organized actor in multilevel governance, specifically with regard to the European citizens' initiatives (ECIs) (art. 11.4 TEU) launched so far. The article aims to analyze ECIs from the perspective of Civil Society participation at the EU level. In the conclusion, the article—on the limited issue of the ECI—draws some critical conclusions regarding the actual outcomes that the active promotion of Civil Society participation has achieved and some questions about the democratic added-value that Civil Society could bring to a more grounded legitimacy of EU decisions.