From Civic Choice to Civic Voice: the Changing Role of Society in European Fisheries Governance

Civil Society Involvement in the EU Regulations on GMOs: From the Design of a Participatory Garden to Growing Trees of European Public Debate

“…First, at the general policy level, a better horizontal co-ordination of various civil society groups is necessary together with the establishment of a multi-sectoral forum for a broad debate of biotechnology. Second, at the level of individual GMO approvals, the consequent implementation of a concrete participatory model is essential ('due consideration model') accompanied by Civil society involvement in the EU regulations on GMOs 299 an effective consideration of how to accommodate citizens' preferences (see also O'Mahony & Coffey, 2007) and how to launch functioning of mechanisms which have been announced but not implemented (public hearings). In the longer term, it is necessary to consider how to overcome cultural barriers to participation and structural inequalities between institutionalized civil society and citizens (Curtin, 2003).…”