Participatory European Parliament Manifesto Writing: Just a Tool or a Value Choice?

The EU institutions are putting more and more emphasis on citizen participation, but most political parties are reluctant to use deliberative practices. The article aims at better understanding how inviting citizens serves social capacity building and how participatory mechanisms interact with the wider context of a new party. Our paper brings mixed method evidence from a single case study: the Hungarian Two Tailed Dog party, an extra-parliamentary party, which made the decision to co-create its manifesto for the upcoming EP elections with citizens as part of its electoral campaign. The findings indicate the importance of indirect, iterative paths toward realising value from participation, focusing on social aspects, long-term feedback loops and a complementary organisational design.