Democracy International e. V.

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Democracy International
logo
legal form registered association
founding June 30, 2011
Seat Cologne , Germany
motto "The global coalition for direct democracy"
Website www.democracy-international.org/de

Democracy International e. V. is an association based in Cologne. The purpose of the association is to strengthen direct democracy and citizen participation worldwide. Democracy International was founded in June 2011 as a registered association. As of 2002, the group consisted of a loose network of democracy activists. The organization is politically neutral and independent. It is financed by membership fees and donations.

organization

Members of the organization are natural persons and democratic associations. They elect the board at least every three years. The board determines the political course and the activities and represents the organization externally. Democracy associations must have more than seven members in order to become a member of the organization.

Club work

Campaigns to promote democracy, in particular direct democracy and citizen participation, form a main component of the association's work alongside the planning of conferences and the transfer of knowledge about direct democracy. In addition, Democracy International publishes the Direct Democracy Navigator , an online tool that is intended to enable a worldwide comparison of direct democratic means.

Campaign for a European Citizens' Initiative

In 2002 the association successfully fought with other democracy activists from all over Europe to anchor a European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) in the EU constitutional treaty . The ECI later found its way into the Lisbon Treaty of 2009. Contrary to the demands of Democracy International, the European Citizens' Initiative is non-binding, because the European Commission has the opportunity to reject the legislative proposal initiated by the citizens. Democracy International urges the non-binding nature of the European Citizens' Initiative and the fact that the ECI has so far been too unknown to the public.

The association has been working to improve the European Citizens' Initiative since 2015. The EU law on the European Citizens' Initiative stipulates that the European Commission must review the application of the ECI every three years and can change it. The association took this as an opportunity to submit reform proposals and to advertise for more citizen-friendly and more effective rules of the European citizens' initiative with a high-profile campaign. The core element was the appeal "Save the European Citizens' Initiative", supported by the French economist Thomas Piketty and the German political scientist Gesine Schwan . More than 75,000 EU citizens signed the reform proposals that Democracy International and the organizations Mehr Demokratie e. V. and WeMove.eu handed over to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on October 28, 2015. On the same day, MEPs voted on the report on the European Citizens' Initiative. This included seven out of nine reform proposals from Democracy International. On August 16, 2017, collected signatures from over 100,000 Europeans were handed over to the EU Commission to strengthen the ECI. This published its proposal for a reaffirmed ECI in mid-September 2017. Two of the recommendations of Democracy International were accepted in full, six were partially accepted and three suggestions were either not mentioned or rejected. The revised European Citizens' Initiative is expected to come into force by the next EU elections after going through the normal legislative processes.

Campaign for a transnational European electoral law

Initiated by the Duff report, the association campaigned in 2012 for a transnational European electoral law that enables the election of MEPs in other countries through transnational lists.

Call for an EU convention

In view of the legal changes in the European Union that have resulted from the European Stability Mechanism and the European Fiscal Compact , the association calls for a new EU Convention to be convened. A convention is an assembly of citizens and representatives from politics, business and civil society. It should be the task of the assembly to give the citizens of Europe a direct say in the drafting of EU treaties. The goal is a democratically legitimized Europe. In 2014, the organization launched a campaign called 'Democratic Europe Now', which enables a broad alliance of civil society groups across Europe. The association sets up several criteria for the design of a new European convention. The aim is to ensure maximum democratic legitimacy by not only taking part in the convention with representatives from member countries or EU institutions, but also representatives from civil society or directly elected representatives from European citizenship. In addition, the meetings should be transparent and accessible to the public. Decisions should be made directly in the plenary instead of just submitting the proposals to the Presidium. In addition, the association demands sufficient time for serious and thorough consultations. The working groups must therefore be given more than a year to complete their analyzes and recommendations. In addition, Democracy International calls for participatory mechanisms that enable citizens and civil society to contribute and participate in the deliberations. In the course of this, traditional and digital platforms are to be simplified. The results of the convention should ultimately be available for referendum on the same day in all EU member states.

Commitment to more lobby transparency

Democracy International accuses the European Union of a lack of transparency in lobbying. The association advocates more transparency and a mandatory lobby register. Among other things, the organization launched a campaign in 2014 in which it collected suggestions from citizens to curb lobbying in Europe. The results of this survey were forwarded to Sven Giegold, member of the Green Group in the European Parliament. As the EU Parliament's rapporteur, he is responsible for a “Report on Transparency, Integrity and Accountability”. Since the EU Commission has been under Jean-Claude Juncker, lobbyists have had the option of voluntary registration.

Links to other organizations

Democracy International is closely associated with Mehr Demokratie e. V. Germany , Mehr Demokratie Österreich , Meer Democratie in the Netherlands, Democratie.nu in Belgium, Omnibus for direct democracy and The ECI Campaign .

Publications

The association regularly prepares monitor reports and position papers. The reports evaluate referendums or referendums taking place according to international standards of direct democracy, as defined by the Venice Commission .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ SOS Europa - Campaign for more democracy in Europe presented. Democracy International e. V., August 21, 2013, accessed on March 13, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Democracy International: Statutes (PDF)
  3. ^ Democracy International Founding Assembly
  4. ↑ Happy Birthday European Citizens' Initiative. In: people2power.info. March 17, 2017, accessed March 6, 2018 .
  5. ^ Bruno Kaufmann: The direct democratic struggle about free trade. In: swissinfo.ch. October 8, 2015, accessed March 6, 2018 .
  6. ^ Call for more Direct Democracy in Europe. November 12, 2015, accessed March 6, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Daniela Vancic, Bruno Kaufmann: Window of opportunity for transnational direct democracy. In: swissinfo.ch. August 3, 2017, accessed March 6, 2018 .
  8. ^ Andrew Duff: On Governing Europe. (PDF) 2012, accessed on March 6, 2018 (English).
  9. ^ Democracy International. In: europeanmovement.eu. April 11, 2017, accessed March 6, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Demand for end to secret lobbying in the EU. September 6, 2016, accessed March 6, 2018 .
  11. ^ Democracy Internationals List of Publications
  12. ↑ Venice Commission (PDF; 249 kB), guidelines for direct democracy.