Engaging with Civil Society: Institutional Discourses, Practices and ‘Civil' Responses to Consultation Mechanisms

The consultation regime of the European Commission (EC) evolves steadily, and its strategies vary over time. Yet, the 'Better Regulation Principles' reaffirm, inter alia, that the voices of those affected by European policies should be heard. Stakeholders and civil society organisations should be more involved in policy development. The overall aim of this contribution is to evaluate the promotion of this consensus-based governance mechanisms: through these consultations does the EC contribute to a better regulation and, in fine, enhance its legitimacy?

In this paper, I will first put in perspective the institutional discourses and the practical dimensions of these consultation mechanisms: do they enable the objectives to be achieved? Then, I will consider how stakeholders and civil society organisations perceive these consultation processes and how they come to produce, in some cases, 'circumvention' strategies.

The empirical basis for this research is twofold. On the one hand, I rely on the analysis of Commission’s discourses and practices during the 'European Year of Citizen' (2013-2014) and of how the civil society took part in the process. On the other hand, I examine the online public consultation (hosted on the EC 'yourvoice' website) concerning the investment protection and investor-to-state dispute settlement of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement. This (on-going) case permits to also take into account the failed attempt to initiate a European Citizen Initiative (which was rejected by the EC) and its consequences in the public sphere.