Enhancing democracy pre and post EU accession – Citizens’ Europe

The threats of increasing populism and populist nationalism in their various forms were recurring elements of the debates on the challenges for enlargement. This tendency is seriously problematic not only at the doorsteps of the EU, but also within the EU. However, this issue cannot be addressed effectively without examining its possible causes.

The research programme “Enhancing democracy pre and post EU enlargement” builds on the hypothesis that the origin of these trends is the crisis of representative democracy. Hence, it aims to study different concepts of democracy, analyse the various forms in which the crisis of representative democracy manifests (specially focusing on populism and nationalism and their diverse definition), evaluate its effects on enlargement policy and develop progressive alternatives for reinforcing pluralism.

The outcomes of the research programme will be collected in a book, which is planned to be launched in October 2014. 

The workshop organised by the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) with the support of the European Forum for Democracy and Solidarity (EFDS) will focus on the topic of the legitimacy of the EU and increasing civil engagement in order  to revitalise the EU enlargement process. The aim of the seminar is to present the draft articles of these two book chapters and give feedback to the authors.

The WG EU Enlargement of the FEPS Young Academics Network (YAN) will be also actively involved in this debate. The seminar will be the launching event of the FEPS YAN paper “Enhancing EU enlargement” including inspiring thoughts on the judicial reforms in the Western Balkans and reinvigorating the relations with Turkey.