Citizen or Consumers? How the EU Addresses Individuals Differently

Besides economic and political crises in the last few years, the way citizen are addressed within policy-making and the responsiveness of European policy-makers seem to be a critical aspect for the European Union’s survival. The often-used image of the EU as a technocracy that focuses on uncalled-for regulation (e.g. freedom of panorama) seems to hint at the state of the Union. Thus, the impact of EU policy in every day live contributes to citizen’s support. Against this background, the proposed paper investigates the perception of citizen in EU policy and especially deals with the question: How are citizen addressed in policy? To answer this question, the research compares sustainable consumption policy and health policy. Both policy areas address individuals, deal with common goods in the EU and influence individual lives. But beside these common features the way individuals are perceived differs. The paper argues that the choice of policy-instruments and policy-goals also differ based on distinctive views regarding consumers and citizen. Whereas sustainable consumption policy mainly perceives consumers as rational, health policy addresses vulnerable individuals that must be protected. Although both policy areas address literally the same general public, the perception of citizens and thus the impacts on every day live differ. While sustainable consumption policy merely focuses soft policy instruments, health policy uses more hard policy instruments. Thus, the contribution tries to link the discussion on the transformation of the EU towards a future-proof Union to the citizen-perspective and regulations that address EU citizens.