The Development of the Participatory Agenda in the Aftermath of the Convention (2003–2011): Consultation and Direct Participation

Abstract

The expectation of those organisations that promoted the article on participatory democracy was that recognition of the principle of consultation in the Treaty would grant them secure access to EU institutions. Furthermore, they expected to unify consultation practices across different departments and institutions and to avoid competition with outsiders, because of the recognition of the principle of representativeness that had been elaborated on territorial grounds. In this sense the publication of minimum standards for consultation (European Commission 2002c) could appear as an implementation mechanism of the 2001 White Paper on Governance and of Article 47, in that it defined common rules for all Commission departments and seemed to secure the principle of civil dialogue.