The Importance of Digital Media in the European Citizens’ Initiative

The political and social current throughout the world marked by a tendency towards greater citizen participation in the governance of institutions has been enacted in European Community Law, among other measures, by the inclusion of the figure of the Citizens’ Initiative, by virtue of the Treaty of Lisbon, as a further right within the framework of the Statute of European Citizenship. The legislative texts of the European Community predicted a key role for digital media, both in terms of providing information and citizen participation. Around three years since the option of proposing citizen initiatives began, with around 50 such proposals having been put into practice, there is now enough perspective to evaluate whether or not these predictions were well based. After the necessary research, it has been possible to confirm that digital media have been essential for achieving the goals for which the Citizens’ Initiative was designed, both in terms of providing a mouthpiece for the initiatives developed and facilitating the gathering of support through websites. In fact, practice seems to have demonstrated that it would now be impossible, due to a lack of time and all types of resources, to achieve the support figures required under the regulations corresponding to the Citizens’ Initiative, within the set time periods, without the help of digital media.