Danube Democracy Rally kicks off in Vienna
Today, first April 2014, more than 50 democracy activists from all around the world come together in Vienna to join the Danube Democracy Rally. The nine-day-long journey through Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest is...
Call for EU convention ahead of German ESM ruling
On Tuesday, 18 March 2014, Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court is due to pronounce its final judgment on the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the fiscal pact. The expected ruling follows a constitutional...
German top court bans threshold for EU elections
Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court ruled today that the three per cent barring clause enacted in Germany for the European elections is unconstitutional.
Campaign "Democratic Europe Now!" launched
Democracy International hosted a press briefing at the European Parliament today to launch an alliance of organisations from all over Europe under the banner ‘Democratic Europe Now’. Together, the group is calling for a...
First hearing of ECI successful – yet ECI not fully powerful
Democracy International, the European Citizen Action Service (ECAS) and IRI Europe – all organisations that had worked hard for the inclusion of the ECI into the EU Treaties – positively assess the first public hearing...
Litmus test for European Democracy next Monday
The first public hearing of a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) will take place in the European Parliament next Monday, 17 February 2014. On this occasion the ECI “Water is a human right” – the first ECI ever that...
Südtiroler stimmen gegen mangelhafte Bürgerbeteiligung
Die Einwohner/innen Südtirols wünschen sich effektivere und bürgerfreundlichere Regeln für direkte Demokratie. So lautet das Ergebnis eines Referendums, das am 9. Februar 2014 in Italiens autonomer Provinz durchgeführt...
South Tyroleans vote against flawed citizen participation
The citizens of South Tyrol want more effective and citizen-friendly rules of direct democracy. This is the result of a referendum held yesterday in Italy’s autonomous province.
Switzerland’s system of direct democracy not perfect
On Sunday, 9 February 2014, 50,3 per cent of Swiss voters opted by referendum in favour of the citizens’ initiative “Against mass immigration”. The turnout was high at 56 per cent.
Votes must not be lost in national and European elections
In Germany’s most recent federal elections held on Sunday, 22 September 2013, almost seven million votes did not count as they were stopped by the five-percent-barring clause. For Democracy International this dramatic...