It is not too late to appoint a EU Citizen Commissioner
by Rupert Strachwitz
On 26 August, Verena Ringler, an Austrian expert on European affairs, published a call for a European Commissioner for Citizen Relations and Civil Society to be appointed. This was timely, as Commission President Elect Ursula von der Leyen had yet to organize the commission around the commissioners-designate as presented by the member states, and the portfolios she wished to entrust them with. It was also prophetic, as the mission letters that emerged on 10 September lacked any mention of civil society whatsoever. The “active role” of the citizens — incidentally a truism that applies to any democracy in the world and hardly deserves special mention as such — is seemingly reduced to the open dialogue events that have become so popular with politicians in recent years, when they deliver prefabricated addresses to citizens summoned at random and duly honoured to be included.
But there is still hope! Two candidates have been rejected by the European Parliament in the very first round, a signal that the parliament is set on assuming an active role in composing the Commission and drawing up its mandate. Parliament may well force the new President to make substantial changes to the programme as outlined to the candidates, and should be encouraged to do so.
Meanwhile 200 European civil society organisations, coordinated by the European Civic Forum, have co-signed an open letter to the members of the Parliament drawing their attention to the missing elements in President-elect von der Leyen’s mission letters and designated portfolios. Shaping an ever closer union and a society that is truly different from what we see in other parts of the world necessarily involves not leaving the citizens behind. To this end, public events are a poor substitute to an ongoing organized dialogue with the huge number of experts assembled in the movements, organisations, and institutions that make up civil society.
It is quite obvious that civil society has taken on an ever-increasing responsibility in setting the policy agenda at European as much as at national, regional, and local level. Civil society players engage all the time in moving this agenda by convening, debating, providing arguments, and mobilizing support, and in critically watching the inaction, failures and misbehaviour of other actors in the public domain. It would therefore seem highly appropriate to appoint one of the 28 Commissioners to be responsible for the relationship between the Commission and the multitude of civil society organisations.
At this moment in history, the opposite is happening. The signs that civil society is being harassed, crowded out, and subjected to undue restrictions and supervision mechanisms, are on the wall — in Hungary and in almost every member state. This is as dangerous as it is unwise. It is bound to provoke countermovements — and indeed is already doing so in a most unwelcome manner — , and it keeps all concerned from finding the best possible solutions to the challenges we are facing. If Ursula von der Leyen is seriously determined to do something about this, to substantially increase the involvement of citizens in European affairs, and not just by way of token gestures, and to halt what is commonly described as the shrinking civic space, she would be well advised to heed the advice she has been offered.
Dr. Rupert Graf Strachwitz, a political scientist, is the Executive Director of the Maecenata Foundation, a think tank based in Berlin, Germany, and the Director of the Maecenata Institute for Philanthropy and Civil Society, the foundation’s research unit. His career included serving with The Sovereign Military Order of Malta and the Order’s German Ambulance Corps, and as President of The Duke of Bavaria’s Administration. He teaches and lectures regularly and has published widely on philanthropy and civil society as well as on European, intercultural and cultural heritage issues. www.strachwitz.info
