GovFaces by Marie Gjerde Rolandsen
The widely known ‘fact’ about the EU is that it is ‘democratically deficient’. People do not vote in the European elections, and they do not really care about what goes on in Brussels because they have no way of influencing it anyway. The wide academic consensus is that there is no European public space or demos, which creates this apparent disconnection between the EU and its citizens. This becomes apparent in low voter turnouts in the European elections, which was a meagre 43% at the 2009 elections.
Low turnout is not only a worry for the Brussels establishment, but should also worry the electorate. Since democracy is based on legitimacy, which again is dependent on public acknowledgment and sanction, can we really call the EU democratic? At least from a public perspective, voter turnout below 50% could hardly be called a public sanctioning of the EU. It might then seem fair to call the EU as democratically deficient. However, that does not answer why or how this can be mended.
The development of European politics has created a reality where people actively engage only after decisions have already been made in Brussels, and then only as a form of protest. The reactionary rather than proactive nature of voters’ involvement is attributed to the fact that they still primarily engage in national politics, not realising that there is another level of decision making that influences their lives.
Although this might be true, Eurobarometers show that an increasing amount of Europeans know fully well that they are citizens of the EU, not only of their national state. As one who is above average interested in European integration and EU politics, it is difficult to understand this apparent apathy to all things EU.
Democracy is rule by the people, but the majority of the European people do not seem ‘interested’ in ruling the EU. One of the most apparent reasons for that could be the lack of contact with those whom they elected. But since the EU actually spends large sums on communication and closing the gap between its institutions and its citizens, the problem must be bigger than just the lack of contact.
The newly started socio-political platform GovFaces believes that part of this problem of peoples’ political disengagement is the lack of direct meaningful contact and interaction between citizens and their elected representatives. Thus, GovFaces has created a website where ordinary citizens can directly contact Members of the European Parliament and candidates to the EP, and get direct responses from them. Since the launch of the website in March 2014, 42 elected MEPs, 1 Commissioner and 43 candidates to the EP have activated their accounts and started answering questions. Over 1400 people have created their own profiles, starting conversations with their representatives.
The community is also based on an internal justice system, where the users decide which questions they want answered. Because it is the members of the community who decide what they want to know and not politicians setting the agenda, citizens are empowered to take an active role in shaping future policies or at least taking them to account. This global website also creates a common public space where European can meet and interact, providing thus the opportunity for creating a European demos.
To learn more about GovFaces you can visit their Facebook page or get started having conversations here.
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