Charter 47 

Charter 47 is New Europe’s proposal concerning how the representative democracy can be strengthened via a strengthened effort for more participatory democracy. The proposal, which rests on a ”citizen-to-citizen” principle is named after Article 47 in the draft for the European Constitution. Here, for the first time, participatory democracy was highlighted as specific theme. The proposal for the European Constitution was unfortunately rejected by the voters in France and the Netherlands. In itself a reminder that the democracy of the EU hardly can be said to function perfectly.

Fortunately the the provisions from Article 47 have been transferred to the Reform Treaty, which is the replacement for the stranded European Constitution. Sadly this does not mean that many positive steps have been taken by the EU in this matter. New Europe's proposal for a socalled "democratic infrastucture" has to