Dear ,
Europe is not taking any lessons from autocrats. We just proved it with women’s rights.
Last month, citizens made the European Commission act on abortion access.
Through the European Citizens’ Initiative, over a million people organised across borders and pushed accessible abortion onto the EU agenda with the campaign My Voice, My Choice. As a result, existing EU funds can support abortion access for the first time in EU history. Women’s lives will be saved. And it all started with an idea and a single signature.
That is groundbreaking.
Autocrats love to claim that democracy is unnecessary, too slow, too weak, too ineffective. They aggressively push the narrative that their way of governing is the better alternative for citizens. On this, figures like Trump, Putin, Erdoğan, and Xi Jinping are remarkably aligned.
Initiatives like My Voice, My Choice show what democracy is capable of when people are given real opportunities to shape it. This is what democracy looks like when it works.
And its impact goes far beyond the one million people who signed. It sends a message to the many millions who are watching - activists, skeptics, and even those drawn to authoritarian promises. The message is that participation works. It can shape political reality. It is worth it.
This success comes at a time when Europe is talking a lot about the defence of democracy. But defending democracy is only half the task. The other half is making it more participatory, more visible, more tangible, and more effective for citizens. That means investing in tools like the European Citizens’ Initiative, the EU’s flagship instrument of participatory democracy.
Because the argument authoritarian leaders make is that democracy does not deliver. That it cannot respond to people’s concerns. That it cannot improve the everyday lives of ordinary citizens.
My Voice, My Choice tells a different story.
And that is exactly what autocrats fear most: the power of mobilised citizens.
.png "Picture of Anne Hardt, Campaigning and Fundraising Manager, Democracy International")
