9. DIAGNÓSTICO DEL PROCESO DE MEZCLAS
9.2 FABRICACIÓN DEL COMPUESTO DE P.V.C
9.2.4 Diagramas de recorrido enfocado al operario
The Democratic Conventions were originally aimed at overcoming the EU’s democratic deficit, but whose application is still in its test phase. Its methodology can learn from previous experiences, ranging from the 2004 European Convention and the European Commission-led Citizens’ Dialogues to the Emmanuel Macron’s En
Marche! movement. However, there are still many open questions regarding the timing, representativeness and impact of the initiative.
On timing, it must be noted that the calendar foreseen for the Democratic Conventions is very tight. The Conventions as a whole last for eight months (some national Citizen’s Consultations are even shorter), which could be too short to guarantee the inclusive scope underpinning the process. The representativeness challenge already detected in 2016 during Emmanuel Macron’s long march indicates the difficulty in granting the process some kind of representative value. As in France, participation in the Democratic Conventions is voluntary and the methodology used does not guarantee any of the traditional criteria to ensure that the samples of people are as representative as possible. In particular, there are no established quotas, so the final outcome cannot be framed as a representative sample of the population. This might prove to be a key point for Convention conclusions, which are meant to inform, inspire, and drive the practical proposals made by the Commission and the European Council.
Finally, another pitfall relates to the question of who has the last word in the decision-making process. Member states, and in particular the relevant governments, are responsible for translating the popular will into “coherent legal propositions” (Assemblée
DIRECT DEMOCRACY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION 59
Nationale, 2017). In other words, there is no common European convention planned, so there will not be an opportunity for exchange between citizens from different member states. The responsibility to interpret and translate the popular will into practical initiatives resides with the national governments rather than, for example, an ad hoc transnational assembly made up of citizen representatives. In order to better translate the inputs into coherent political initiatives, it would be useful in this regard for Heads of State and Government to discuss and compare the national reports in the European Council alongside those from the Commission.
Yet the Democratic Conventions do have a certain transformational potential. They allow for an improved perception of the proximity and interaction with citizens in defining the priorities of European integration. They are also a more creative, politically innovative and disenfranchised way of connecting citizens than traditional partisan
structures. With the European Parliament elections on the horizon, the momentum generated by the initiative is also particularly well timed. The question remains whether the European Commission and national governments will be adventurous enough to transfer the outcomes of the Democratic Conventions to the European political agenda.
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The question remains whether the EC and national governments will be adventurous enough to transfer the outcomes of the democratic conventions to the European political agenda.
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