New ‘Democracy Intergroup’ in the running for the parliamentary green light

By Blaise Baquiche and Daniela Vancic

13/12/2024

It’s been a long time coming, but the European Parliament is on the cusp of creating an Intergroup on Democracy to deal exclusively with the EU’s democratic challenges and its promotion of democratic values.

This means that for the first time ever, MEPs would group together in a formal pro-democratic, cross-party coalition to call for EU action on preserving, and in some cases restoring, democratic principles within the Union.

These include the key tenets of democracy, such as freedom, equality, the rule of law and citizens’ participation.

Not only will the intergroup intervene in a cross-party approach to tackle democratic backsliding, but its aim is also to increase citizen engagement with the European Union itself. This will lead to greater transparency and accountability, much needed by the Parliament, the only democratically-elected institution that serves as co-legislator on behalf of all EU citizens.

The cross-party, cross-national group of MEPs would work together to keep democratic resilience, reforms and citizen participation high on the EU agenda. The goal of the intergroup is to strengthen democratic tools, such as increasing public consultations or citizen assemblies, to ensure ordinary citizens are heard and valued in the creation of EU policy.

There have been over 100 intergroups established in the Parliament since their  introduction, and not one of them has focused on democracy itself. But the most appealing feature of the Democracy Intergroup is that it is genuinely cross-party and can’t be viewed as an ideological pressure group owned by any party on the political spectrum.

As it stands, the proposed intergroup is up for consideration by MEPs amongst a fair amount of competition. With over 40 different intergroups all vying for approval at the start of this new mandate, only 27 will make the cut. Internal voting within each political group finished at the end of November. Internal political group negotiations have now begun, and the final approval of intergroups by the Conference of Presidents will be published on 19th December.

We need to stay vigilant when it comes to democratic values in Europe, particularly given the dire situation in Georgia and Ukraine, Trump’s re-election in the US, and the rising challenges of emerging tech, such as AI.

Now, more than ever, European legislators must unite around preserving democracy. Europe needs to go further than simply ‘strategic autonomy’ on issues like defence and energy security. We need to protect key democratic values like media freedoms, free and fair elections, and the protection of minority rights. By creating a launchpad for MEPs for whom these issues should matter, the European Parliament can lead the way and deliver a coherent message to the public.