Please note that this event is in-person only, with the exception of CEPS Members who may request a link to follow virtually.
In her second term as Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen has promised to develop the ‘European Democracy Shield’, framing EU democracy as being primarily threatened from ‘the outside’. This marks a shift from her first term, which focused on strengthening democratic resilience within the Union, featuring participatory mechanisms such as the Conference on the Future of Europe and the subsequent five European Citizen Panels.
Alvaro Oleart’s Democracy without Politics in EU Citizen Participation analyses these innovative citizen participation processes, suggesting that they are based on a depoliticised understanding of democracy that reinforces the existing technocratic way of working.
The panel will discuss the promises and pitfalls of the EU’s agenda on citizen participation, and what it tells us about the future of EU democracy and its increasing securitisation through a geopolitical lens.
