10/10/2012 Political Affairs and Democracy
Strasbourg, 10.10.2012 – “Citizens should have their say in the way public affairs are run, not only once every four or five years, but every day,” said PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon today in opening a round table entitled “Is representative democracy in crisis?”, as part of the World Forum for Democracy. “Citizens in the countries affected by the crisis feel increasingly that all decision-making power has been taken away from them,” he added, stressing the need to “bring the institutions of representative democracy closer to citizens”.
“There needs to be greater communication between elected representatives and citizens, using all the available channels such as Internet, social networks, parliamentary TV channels and civil society associations,” he said. At the same time, in order to restore public confidence in political institutions, and in the light of the growing power of the supranational institutions, “national parliaments should strengthen their role in order to ensure a balance, have greater scope for legislative initiative and attach paramount importance to scrutinising government action”, said President Mignon.
Anne Brasseur (Luxembourg), Chair of the ALDE Group (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe) felt that “democracy cannot be taken for granted; it is constantly being reshaped and adapted, and that is the principal strength of this system […]. If democracy is in crisis, the response cannot be populism or dictatorship, but more democracy, freedom and solidarity,” she added. In her view, it was wrong to think that the political institutions, particularly the European supranational institutions, were out of touch with citizens since most EU bodies were democratically elected. She also refuted the claim that there was a lack of interest in the political process and a decline in citizen participation: “civil society, which moreover is strongly represented in this Forum, has never been so involved in public life and listened to so much by decision-makers as it is today”, she said.
For his part, Andreas Gross (Switzerland), Chair of the Socialist Group and author of the report on “The crisis of democracy and the role of the state in today’s Europe”, felt that democracy was inconceivable without citizen representation. “In order to revitalise democracy, it is imperative to introduce elements of direct democracy at regional and local level, and encourage greater citizen participation by enabling them to bring about changes in legislation and engage in more active dialogue with members of parliament, who as a result will be able to represent them more effectively.” In addition, “to give fresh impetus to democracy and overcome the current crises, it is only at supranational level that the construction of this democracy can be taken further”, he added.
“More democracy is always the best medicine when democracy is in crisis,” said Tiny Kox (Netherlands), Chair of the Unified European Left Group (UEL). “Unfortunately, we often see the opposite development. When powers are criticised that their democracy is not functioning well and does not meet international standards, they often react by limiting the right to freedom of expression and demonstration,” he said. “It is perhaps too soon to say whether democracy will prevail. But nevertheless it is worthwhile to fight for its success, because without democracy human rights cannot be protected and civilisation cannot be developed in a humane way,” Mr Kox concluded.