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National Organisations in the European Citizens’ Initiative: enhancing cooperation or competition in the Civil Society field?

Civil Society
Contentious Politics
European Union
Social Movements
Trade
Alvaro Oleart
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Alvaro Oleart
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Luis Bouza
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) - The Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM)

Abstract

The European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) has the potential to change significant dynamics in the field of European Civil Society Organisations (CSOs). A successful ECI requires the promoters reach to at least one million supporters and probably cooperate with national CSOs to reach more people. Likewise, it might lead national CSOs to cooperate with other national and European organisations to try to "upload" their own issues and create pan-European networks. This also implies that the ECI may increase the competitiveness of the field of civil society, with CSOs using the ECI potentially challenging incumbent groups and at the same time trying to establish their positions and claims. In our paper, we analyse the articulation of networks of cooperation and/or competition around the ECI using 3 case studies - Wake up Europe, European Initiative for Media Pluralism and STOP TTIP - that were registered in different periods of time, deal with different subjects, have different actors, different degrees of success, and that have different levels of hostility towards the agenda of the European Commission. Nonetheless, the 3 case studies selected are challenging the European Commission agenda in the name of the principles and values written in the treaties of the EU. They also share a relative focus on national issues or bottom-up forms of mobilisation. The paper aims at analysing the role of national organisations in these campaigns, the creation of networks and relations with other national or European groups and the way in which the ECI contributes to agenda-setting on these issues.