Digital Democracy and the European Union

This chapter analyses how EU institutions use new technologies to increase citizens’ opportunities to influence Union policy, as well as how the EU controls and limits opportunities for political participation via the Internet. New information technologies have revolutionized the opportunities for citizens to participate actively in politics. At the same time, technological trends have brought new threats to democracy. The analysis focuses particularly on two channels of Internet-based political participation initiated by the EU: the European Citizens’ Consultations, conducted between 2009 and 2018; and the European Citizens’ Initiative. The analysis shows that EU institutions have both facilitated and limited citizens’ opportunities to influence European politics through these channels. While many citizens have gotten the chance to express their political views; their actual influence over political decision-making and the European political agenda has been very limited.