Europe’s economic architecture has been stress-tested by recent crises, with ordinary people bearing the heaviest burden. Our opinion Leaving the crises behind offers a blueprint for an economy that protects individuals and businesses, rather than subjecting them to economic turbulence.
Europe’s economic architecture has been stress-tested by recent crises, with ordinary people bearing the heaviest burden. Our opinion Leaving the crises behind offers a blueprint for an economy that protects individuals and businesses, rather than subjecting them to economic turbulence.
Three economic imperatives stand out:
First, economic forecasting must evolve from retrospective analysis to predictive intervention. When inflation strikes, it hits kitchen tables before economic dashboards. We need sophisticated early detection systems that spot supply bottlenecks and price transmission anomalies before they translate into unaffordable heating bills and groceries. The households most vulnerable to economic shocks are precisely those with the least capacity to absorb them – a reality that demands granular vulnerability mapping to ensure targeted protection.
Second, fiscal capacity must shift from emergency response to built-in stabilisation. NextGenerationEU was impressive but improvisational. Permanent fiscal stabilisation mechanisms with civil society oversight would ensure that crisis responses protect those most at risk. When economic governance ignores distributional effects, the resulting social strain undermines the very resilience we seek to build. Social conditionalities in EU funding should not be seen as bureaucratic hurdles – they could ensure that economic growth translates into improved living standards for everyone.
Third, market integration must accelerate where it matters most for consumers. Energy costs that significantly exceed those of competitors are not just macroeconomic indicators – they are monthly bills that squeeze household budgets across Europe. Strategic investments in cross-border infrastructure and energy market integration are not just abstract economic objectives but tangible relief for families and businesses facing cost-of-living pressures.
Economic policy crafted without civil society input is like navigating without local knowledge – technically possible but practically foolish. When policies are designed with the full participation of those who will experience their consequences, they invariably deliver superior outcomes. This is not about consultation as a formality; it is about harnessing the collective intelligence of organised civil society throughout the policy cycle.
Europe’s competitive social market economy needs modernising, not abandoning. The choice between competitiveness and citizen protection is promoted by those with limited economic imagination. The challenges ahead require institutional creativity that places economic resilience and people’s wellbeing at the heart of Europe’s economic governance.
The European Citizens’ Initiative has proved to be an effective tool for increasing citizens’ participation in the political life of the EU. But it must be reinforced to counter the risk of the EU institutions becoming detached from ordinary Europeans.
The European Citizens’ Initiative has proved to be an effective tool for increasing citizens’ participation in the political life of the EU. But it must be reinforced to counter the risk of the EU institutions becoming detached from ordinary Europeans.
The European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) is an EU participatory mechanism designed to strengthen direct democracy by allowing at least one million EU citizens (with a specified minimum number of nationals from at least seven Member States) to ask the European Commission to propose an act in an area where Member States have transferred powers to the EU level.
Since 2012, when ECIs were launched, the European Commission has registered 119 initiatives, and their organisers have collected around 20 million signatures. So far, 11 initiatives have been validated as successful and 10 of them have already received a response from the Commission.
The ECI Day, held every year by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), is an important forum and platform where registered and future ECI organisers and stakeholders can exchange information and experiences and present their ECI and activities to the public.
This year, the ECI Day was held as part of Civil Society Week on 18 March.
‘The EU should take further steps towards participatory democracy to complement its representative form. The ECI is the very first participatory democracy tool at transnational level,’ said Laurenţiu Plosceanu, EESC Vice-President for Communication.
According to the European Ombudsman, Teresa Anjinho, the ECI is a powerful tool, but it has not lived up to its potential. ‘We have to improve communication on its purposes and functions. Awareness-raising campaigns must be stepped up so that people are fully informed about what an ECI can and cannot do, and take action. To preserve the ECI as a meaningful tool requires transparency, honesty and communication. If we fail, we will also be failing to maintain trust in this tool as well as in the future of our Union,’ said Ms Anjinho.
During the ECI Day event, nine ECI initiatives were presented, including those concerning access to water, food security, abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, protecting existing buildings from demolition, videogame heritage protection, a new model to reduce emissions through Air-Quotas, and new health standards for the medical use of psychedelics.
Responding to calls to secure funding for ECI initiatives, Adriana Mungiu, head of the ECI team at the Commission’s Secretariat-General, urged activists not to wait for new and rather distant budgetary solutions dedicated only to ECIs. Instead, they should make greater use of the funds available in the current EU budget, including in the chapters on ‘Citizens’ Participation’. (at)
