Indeed, participatory democracy is the talk of the town. Citizens’ participation is being tested out far more commonly across Europe, both in pilot experiments and on a larger scale. The EU, too, has taken initial steps in this direction. Still, there is often a gap between expectations and reality. For instance, there is barely any public awareness of the European Citizens’ Initiative. The European Citizens’ Consultations initiated by the French President in 2018 were at best a well-coordinated attempt at dialogue in all member states, without generating a lot of tangible results.