Deployment of the Deliberative Model of Political Participation of EU Citizens in the Discourse of the European Democracy Future

Abstract

The article investigates the process of deployment of the deliberative model of political participation of EU citizens in the discourse of the future of European democracy, which was officially defined by the EU at the organizational level (Conference on the Future of Europe), but the thematic content of the problem was not limited to any official documents, so every EU citizen got the opportunity to express an idea and participate in the discussion of the ideas of other subjects of deliberation at the first stage of the Conference (Multilingual digital platform). The study of the application of digital tools of political participation in the practices of deliberative democracy, applied during the Conference on the Future of Europe, proved that two formats of such tools were used: first, the format of the Multilingual Digital Platform functioned according to the digital model of the deployment of political participation; secondly, the format of the European Citizen Panels was based on a mixed model that combined the principles of digital and face-to-face communications in the deliberation process. At the same time, both formats most systematically reflect the nature of the transformation of the discursive model of political participation of EU citizens from dialogic to deliberative forms based on digital tools. The study of the forms of deliberation on the future of European democracy during the Conference on the Future of Europe and its results allows us to conclude that structurally, the problem of European democracy was defined by EU citizens as a set of interdependent dimensions promising for a common political agenda: elections to the European Parliament; EU federalization; political participation of citizens and consultations; institutional reforms; promotion of common European identity and common public space; protection and strengthening of democracy. The established set of markers, thematic areas and clusters of the deliberation of the future of democracy at the second European Citizen Panel was reflected in 39 guidelines proposed for the development of the final recommendations of the Conference: ensuring rights and (non)discrimination – 9 guidelines; protection of democracy and the rule of law – 5; reforming the EU – 10; formation of European identity – 9; citizens' participation – 6. In the final documents of the Conference, a consensus was reached on 5 proposals, which accumulated most of the recommendations of citizens regarding the future of European democracy, expressed during the deliberation process.