View source for Supporting the Commons in the EU Policy Landscape


'''* Report: Supporting the Commons: Opportunities in the EU policy landscape. By Sophie Bloemen & David Hammerstein. Commons Network, April 2017'''

URL = http://commonsnetwork.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/CommonsPolicyOpportunitiesExecutiveSummary-3.pdf

"A paper by Commons Network supported by European Cultural Foundation and Heinrich Böll Stiftung."


=Executive Summary=

"Major fault lines are starting to appear in the dominant worldview based on
individualism, private ownership and an atomistic society. Although science has moved
away from this linear industrial age worldview to one of systems based on networks,
access & relationships, this paradigm shift has barely been acknowledged in politics,
economy and law.

The predominant discourses that permeate political discussions in
the EU are economic growth, competitiveness and efficiency – considerations that tend
to trump everything else. The lion’s share of EU policy focuses on macro-economic
indicators and the promotion of large commercial considerations. Citizens are often
viewed simply as entrepreneurs or consumers.


==Commons perspective==

The commons perspective stands in stark contrast to the policy priorities that currently
dominate in Europe. ‘Commons’ refer to shared resources and frameworks for social
relationships that are managed by a community. ‘Commons’ also stand for a worldview
and ethical perspective favouring stewardship, reciprocity and social and ecological
sustainability. This outlook defines well-being and social wealth not just with narrow
economic criteria like gross domestic product or companies’ success. Instead it looks to
a richer, more qualitative set of criteria that are not easily measured – including moral
legitimacy, social consensus and participation, equity, resilience, social cohesion and
social justice. 

The commons discourse considers people as actors who are deeply embedded in social
relationships, communities and local ecosystems, instead of regarding society as a
collection of atomised individuals who are principally living as consumers or
entrepreneurs. Human motivation is more diverse than maximising material selfinterest
alone: we are social beings and human cooperation and reciprocity are at least
as important in driving our actions.iii This more holistic perspective also tends to
overcome dominant subject-object dualisms, between for example man and nature, and
to consider human activity as one part of the larger living bio-physical world.
Recognising the multiple domains of people’s lives, bottom-up, decentralised and
participatory approaches to our major social and environmental dilemmas provide
functional solutions to the current environmental and social crises facing our continent.


==Cultural shift==

Across Europe people are cooperating, co-creating and co-governing resources and
goods on many different levels. Many local and larger networked initiatives are
overcoming the dualism of commercial and non-commercial, public and private,
individual and collective, producer and consumer to develop successful hybrid forms
that place the common good before pure individual economic self-interest. The
commons use voluntary social collaboration and co-creation on open networks creating
social-environmental value in academic research, energy production, nature protection,
health drug development and digital innovation. Across Europe, initiatives are springing
up that prioritise either social cohesion, ecological sufficiency, community resilience or
the sharing of knowledge – representing social and cultural shifts in value models. For
example cooperative housing initiatives that ensure reasonable and lasting low rents, a
local renewable energy cooperative, or an open access medical journals that back up
articles with complete trial data. The regeneration activities of commoners showcase,
above all, cultural manifestations of new ways of life.


==What role for the EU?==

The EU needs the commons and the commons need the EU. The EU project is in deep
crisis and needs a roadmap towards more participatory democracy and a just and
ecologically sustainable society. The commons can be, and should be, an important part
of that roadmap – providing an alternative narrative, a positive and constructive
discourse that is at once transnational and trans-local. The commons approach points to
specific ways to reform the EU and its policies.

On the other hand, the commons also need to be nurtured, protected and supported by
EU policies. Neo-liberal policies creating inequality, promoting unlimited fossil fuel
driven material growth and the commodification of all our resources, are destroying our
natural and social commons. These policies have also driven people to embrace selfmanaged
initiatives in resistance to the overreaching power of the markets and capital
in every aspect of their lives and the incapacity of the state to counter the injustices
brought about by the financial crisis. Both tough austerity measures as well as
discontent with individual consumerism have led to the pursuit of these alternatives.

This cultural shift towards community, collaborative practices, local ecosystems,
sustainability, citizen participation and radical democracy manifests itself in many ways,
Many local authorities in Europe such as Madrid, Amsterdam, Barcelona and Bologna are
engaging with these trends. The EU needs to respond and acknowledge this shift, as
well as framing technological developments and guiding developments through
responsible institutions. Specifically, this also means earmarking much larger portions of
EU funding programmes with criteria and indicators that give preference to commonsbased
economic, environmental, cultural and research activities.

If there is one investment that the EU should be making at this crucial time in our
collective history, it is an investment in democracy. The EU’s democratic deficit has been
plaguing the project for a long time; now it even threatens to contribute to the EU’s
unravelling. The lack of transparent accountability of national policy-makers in
relationship to the EU project is a major flaw; we need structural changes to increase
this accountability. As well as improving the current channels of participatory
democracy, such as the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), the European Parliament’s
Petitions Committee and the consultation processes, the EU should proactively engage
in the creation of instruments for participatory democracy - for which technological
development has created immense opportunities.

In order to support urban commons practices, and the engagement of citizens in the
creation and governance of their direct environments, there needs to be conscious,
tailored support for small initiatives and collaborative platforms that contribute to local
ecosystems and a circular economy. A circular economy is restorative and regenerative
by design, and entails zero waste generation through greater re-use, repair, recycling,
sharing and closed –circuit industries. Todays ‘take, make and dispose’ model is reaching
its physical limits.

A rich and growing knowledge commons should be part of the EU roadmap, putting an
end to the shrinking of the commons through further privatisation and monopolisation
of internet infrastructures, (publicly funded) science and culture. We need public
interest-copyright reform, true open science and internet infrastructures governed in the
commons interest to favour a decentralised collaborative economy. The EU needs to
prioritise and address the management of data in the collective interest.

Diverse movements of commoners are alive and kicking, but they need strong financial
support, regulatory facilitation and political visibility. And they need it now. The EU can
seize this pivotal moment and choose to become a leader in shaking off a chronic
industrial age worldview by embracing the up and coming revolution of peer-to-peer
collaboration, economic decentralisation and cultural sharing.

We are calling on EU institutions to take a more holistic approach. We call on policymakers
to combine economic objectives with a broad integrated appreciation of
collaborative, participatory principles as well as social, cultural and environmental
objectives that draw on citizens’ priorities.


==Practicing Democracy==

The European project sorely needs bottom-up innovation in order to address the limits
of representative democracy and its current legitimacy problems. 


EU democracy needs
an urgent dose of re-invigoration and innovative models of participatory political
processes are one way to address this.

• The EU should devote time and resources to creative institutions of participatory
democracy, learning from al innovative practices already taking place in many
European cities.

• The European Citizens’ Initiative needs changes in order to become a useful,
accessible tool for citizen participation with real possibilities for stimulating and
influencing European legislative debates.

• The European Parliament’s Petitions Committee needs greater resources, more
parliamentary power and more accountable responsiveness from the European
Commission in order to effectively channel and debate hundreds of citizens’ petitions
swiftly, effectively and in a transparent way.

• New digital technologies can facilitate and simplify the democratic participation of
European citizens in the formulation, amendment and consideration of new EU
legislation.


==Commons in the city==

Most Europeans live in cities and many of these cities are suffering from acute housing
challenges, as well as environmental, multicultural integration and urban decay
problems. How can we treat the city as a place that belongs to all its residents and that
is governed and functions in accordance with their needs? 


In terms of policy
opportunities for the urban commons at a EU level, there are several steps that should
be taken as priority:

• Policies to enhance local control and public-civic partnerships.

• Trade and competition policies should protect and support the remunicipalisation of
public services and local procurement in the public interest.

• The Urban Agenda for the EU could be strengthened on a profound level by
emphasising culture and civil society. Civil society should be allowed to play an
active role in the partnerships in the Urban Agenda for the EU with culture as a
cross-cutting issue in all partnerships.

• Commons as a Legal Category: The EU could acknowledge the commons as a way of
organising and governing resources separate from public or private; it should even
give guidance on law-making that takes the commons into account at the national or
local level.

• The agenda for the collaborative economy should be translated into regulations that
favour platforms with: respect for local ecosystems; community based and
democratic online platforms.

• The action plan on the circular economy could be an opportunity if it is adapted to a
localised/regional scale as opposed to its present globalised scope.

• Funding programmes should favour community based practices and civil-public
partnerships.


==Digital commons, knowledge and peer-to-peer collaboration==

How can the EU respond to epochal shifts in technology, commerce and social practice
and devise policies appropriate to the current age? How can knowledge be managed in
a way that favours socially and ecologically sustainable stewardship?

Knowledge commons need flexible institutional and legal frameworks that allow selforganisation
while also limiting unfair centralisation and appropriation of knowledge.

Internet infrastructures need to favor democracy, openness and transparency going
forward. Copyright regimes should be flexible – protecting the public domain and
providing for exceptions and limitations to allow for the broad sharing and access in
the realms of culture and science.


==Internet and infrastructure==

Maintaining an open democratic internet within the principles of net neutrality,
interoperability, open standards, decentralisation and private data protection is key.

• Internet infrastructures should be managed in the public interest and, when
possible, governed and/or owned by the public or community.

• We need investment in data infrastructures that allow individuals and communities
to manage personal information in decentralised ways with the affirmative consent
of users.


==Digital Single Market (DSM)==

The follow up to the EU Agenda for the Collaborative Economy should acknowledge
the problems with centralised platforms through regulation. 

This would include
ensuring:

• a socially sustainable collaborative economy where workers’ rights are protected;

• the support of community based alternatives;

• the enhancement of data sovereignty.

• Spectrum legislation determining radio spectrum bandwidth for broadband digital
service should have a significant amount of bandwidth that is legally earmarked for
local, community based small-scale businesses or non-profit initiatives.

• To ensure the open internet, net neutrality should be upheld in a truly nondiscriminatory
way.


Further pro-commons initiatives that should be supported and expanded under DSM
would include:

• the support and enablement of community Wifi;

• EU public-civic partnerships through crowdfunding;

• investments in open source software (FOSS Pilot).


==Culture goods, co-creation and copyright==

In order to favour access to knowledge and culture and a dynamic knowledge economy,
the forthcoming copyright reform needs to favour the public domain, use and re-use
and knowledge commons.

• The EU should recognise that, once a work is in the public domain (i.e. copyright and
related rights in a work have expired), the works should stay in the public domain.


• The EU needs to expand exceptions and limitations to include: 

i) text and data
mining; 

ii)improved access to cultural materials for people with disabilities; 

iii) noncommercial sharing; 

iv) user-generated content; 

v) e-book lending and conservation
by librarians; 

vi) freedom of panorama; and the elimination of copyright for
databases.

• Adding ancillary copyright and neighbouring rights will add additional layers of
rights hampering the free flow of knowledge and should not be further pursued.

• The EU’s stance in EU trade agreements and at WIPO should focus more on the
public interest instead of the expansion of rights and more enforcement.


==Open Science and public goods==

The EU has made huge progress over the last five years in embracing Open Science and
Citizen Science initiatives. Open science describes the on-going transition in the way
research is performed, researchers collaborate and knowledge is shared. Citizen science
is an open, participatory and inclusive approach for knowledge generation. However,
there are still important steps to take in terms of intellectual property and data
management. 


Particularly:

• EU public funding should result in public knowledge goods, ensuring a clear return
on public investment.

• The EU Cloud initiative should ensure the use of data in the collective interest.

• The EU should explore and implement public interest conditions, including for IP
management and knowledge sharing for its research funding programmes (eg,
Horizon 2020).

• Equally, the EU should implement conditions on limited intellectual property rights
for its innovation inducement Horizon Prizes, which are meant to create incentives
for innovation through the granting of a monetary prize.

• In order to move towards an adequate incentive framework for a sustainable
innovation system and to encourage knowledge sharing, the EU should explore the
idea of registering open patents."


[[Category:Commons Policy]]

[[Category:Policy]]

[[Category:Europe]]