Following the People: Citizen’s Proposals of the European Convention and Institutional Dead Ends?

The Conference on the Future of Europe was the EU’s latest attempt at including citizens directly into its setting a reform agenda. The consultation process has resulted in a wide ranging list of proposals in 2022. What, if anything, has come out of this process of citizen engagement in terms of institutional outputs and what drives the impact the process has had on policy making. At this intersection of foreign and public policy making at the EU level, cases of inclusive democratic processes are increasing, yet their impact remains underexplored. In this paper, the policy proposals in particular in foreign and security policy, an area most widely removed from policy-making processes of the institutions and least used to require input legitimacy from individuals and groups of engaged citizens for its operation, will be assessed. The proposed investigation will provide insight into the results for citizens, EU institutions and member states.