Initiative for Europe – Handbook 2008

In 2009 the European Union will receive not only a new Parliament, but also a new Reform Treaty. Europe has learnt some important lessons: one is that it is no longer possible to build and sustain a European Union from above. Another is that in the future Europe will need considerably more participative and direct democratic mechanisms in order to maintain itself and develop further. After a decade of transnational constitution-making, 2009 may become a new milestone in the history of democracy. Half a billion people will elect their representatives to the European Parliament; millions will get a new possibility of having a direct say on the new Treaty and – last but not least – we will all also get the formal right to launch initiatives on the European level.

This new IRI Handbook documents a new chapter in the difficult, but also fascinating, process of bringing the people onto the political centre stage. Quite recently, many Europeans have become involved in some 20 or so pan-European signature-gathering campaigns within the context of the proposed European Citizens’ Initiative. There is much to learn from this new development: the experience already gained leads to several key recommendations - such as the critical need of a citizen-friendly democratic infrastructure.

 This 2008 Handbook published by the Initiative & Referendum Institute – Europe’s first direct democracy think-tank - features facts and analysis, recommendations and proposals and is your reform treaty guide to the first transnational democracy in the making. The IRI Handbook features contributions from authors including Margot Wallström, Jo Leinen, Diana Wallis, Andi Gross, Jessica Pennet, Carsten Berg, Helena Gonzales-Sanchez Bodero, Stephen Boucher, Dana Csizmadia, Søren Lundby, Richard Laming, Daniel Schily, Jürgen Meyer, Michael Efler, Gerrit Rauws, Gabriel Fragnière, Bruno Kaufmann and many others.

The European Constitution – Handbook 2004

Views of the participants in the seminar on "The options and limits of direct democracy in the European integration process", which was held in Brussels on 9 October 2003 and was jointly organised by IRI Europe and the Swiss Mission to the EU. Contributions on the o wirh a preface by Micheline Calmy-Rey, .

With contributions from Micheline Calmy-Rey (Head of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs - Preface), Dante Martinelli, Heidi Hautala, Alain Lamassoure, Jens-Peter Bonde, Jo Leinen, Jürgen Meyer, Diana Wallis, Victor Cuesta, Andreas Gross, Andreas Auer and Jean-Francois Aubert.