Austria: European Charter of active citizenship

European autonomous civic organizations promoting the “European Charter
of active citizenship”: clear and transparent principles for the
relationship between civil society and Public Institutions

Rights for the participation of citizens’ organizations in European and
national policies. This is the principal purpose of the “European Charter of
active citizenship”, presented in Vienna on the 22nd and the 23rd of May and
promoted by Active Citizenship Network (ACN) and the Active Citizenship
Foundation (Fondaca), with the support of the European Commission and
Unicredit Group.

The text is the outcome of a collaboration between ACN, Fondaca and nine
Autonomous Civic Organizations (ACOs), which operate in the general
interest, protect citizens¹ rights and/or preserve common goods: World of
NGOs (Austria); Consumers Defense Association (Czech Republic); Sozialburo
Main-Taunus (Germany); Ghaqda-tal-Konsumatori (Malta); Association of Polish
Consumers (Poland); Animar (Portugal); Romanian Association for Consumer
Protection (Romania); Legal Information Center for NGOs (Slovenia); Helsinki
Citizens Assembly (Turkey).

The Charter is based both on previous official documents on civic
participation (from EU institutions, scientific community, ACOs, etc.), as
well as on the concrete experience of ACOs’ in their relationships with
public institutions in Europe. These experiences were identified through 50
good practices of civic participation collected by the partner organizations
and annexed to the Charter. The legal basis of the document is the Charter
of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

The two fundamental reasons why this Charter has been drawn up are: the
existence of a paradox concerning citizens’ participation in the democratic
life of the European Union and the presence of a normative gap in European
legal framework. While citizens and their autonomous organizations are
usually asked to contribute with material and human resources to fill in the
“democratic deficit” of the European Union, they are, at the same time,
hardly considered and often mistrusted by public institutions.

The European Charter of Active Citizenship aims at addressing this paradox
and at filling the normative gap, by finally acknowledging the role of
Autonomous Citizens’ Organizations as legitimate and fundamental actors in
the construction of Europe.

The Charter has been sent to about 2.000 stakeholders (ACOs, public
institutions, journalists, scholars, etc.) and their contributions were
included in the draft.

During the conference held in Vienna, the reviewed version of Charter was
presented and discussed with some 70 participants coming from 25 European
countries and representing civic organisations, public institutions, think
tanks and trade unions.

Several controversial points arose such as the definition of ACO – the new
concept put forward in the Charter-, the unbalance between ACOs¹ rights and
duties, the juridical status of the document, the need for selection
criteria and the need for a more participative approach in the writing of
the document. Though, the majority of the participants are willing to take
part in the future initiatives regarding this project, specially to
disseminate the Charter at local and national level and to advocate for its
implementation.

For further information, please check

www.activecitizenship.net