Citizens in Charge

Citizens in Charge Foundation, The New America Foundation, The Swiss Confederation and The American Consortium on EU Studies Center of Excellence

Invite you to a Roundtable Discussion

The Rise of Transnational Direct Democracy:
The European Citizen’s Initiative and
What It Means for the World

WHEN:  Monday May 24, 2010
TIME: 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.
LOCATION: New America Foundation, 1899 L St. NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20036

RSVP: Trevor Ford, Communications & Outreach Manager, Citizens in Charge Foundation, trevor@citizensincharge.org, (o) 703-492-1776, (c) 202-503-6295

Direct democracy is a feature of political life in more than 100 countries around the world. But the adoption of the new European constitution, called the Lisbon Treaty, may mark the beginning of a new era of modern direct democracy.

Lisbon establishes the European Citizen’s Initiative, the world’s first transnational direct democratic tool. The process is now being designed and implemented, with those involved looking at models in the U.S., in Switzerland and around the world.

The New America Foundation, the Swiss Confederation, and the American Consortium on EU Studies invite you to an event examining how this new citizen’s initiative process came to be, how it may work - and what the example of such an initiative may mean for Europe and for direct democracy in the U.S. and around the globe.

Among those expected to participate:

Nida Gelazis, Woodrow Wilson International Center (panel leader)
Andreas Gross, member of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly and the Swiss National Parliament  
Bruno Kaufmann, president of the Initiative and Referendum Institute Europe, Europe’s global direct democracy think tank at the University of Marburg, Germany
Daniel Hamilton, executive director of the American Consortium on EU Studies, designated by the European Commission as the EU Center of Excellence Washington, DC
Desmond Dinan, author of the textbook, Ever Closer Union: An Introduction to European Integration and professor of public policy, George Mason University
Paul Jacob, founder of Citizens in Charge Foundation and leader of U.S. term limits movement, expert in American initiative and referendum
Former U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel, founder, National Initiative for Democracy

This panel event is a preview of the U.S. Conference on Initiative and Reference & 2010 Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy, a free, public event being held in San Francisco July 31-Aug. 4.

Register by June 7 to attend for free at www.USConferenceOnIandR.com.