Beyond citizenwashing: strengthening participatory democracy in the European Union

In response to the EU’s (alleged) “democratic deficit”, a range of reforms and participatory initiatives have been introduced over the past 15 years with the aim of expanding opportunities for citizen involvement at the EU level. These include the European Citizens’ Initiative, officially launched in 2012 and praised by the EU Commission as “a unique participatory democracy tool that empowers EU citizens to shape Europe”, as well as the European Citizens’ Panels (also referred to as deliberative mini-publics), which were introduced in the aftermath of the 2021–2022 Conference on the Future of Europe. The paper examines these instruments against the backdrop of growing criticism that they amount to little more than “citizenwashing” (Petit & Oleart 2026), offering symbolic participation without meaningful political impact. Drawing on comparative insights from political systems in which similar instruments have achieved greater effectiveness—such as the popular initiative in Switzerland and the Citizens’ Council of the German-speaking Community in Belgium—alongside an assessment of existing reform proposals (e.g. Longo 2019), the paper identifies key shortcomings of current EU-level participatory mechanisms. It concludes by advancing a set of reform proposals aimed at strengthening participatory democracy and enhancing the effectiveness of democratic innovations across the EU.