65That system of representative democracy was complemented, with the Treaty of Lisbon, by instruments of participatory democracy, such as the ECI mechanism, the objective of which is to encourage the participation of citizens in the democratic process and to promote dialogue between citizens and the EU institutions. However, as stated, in essence, by the Advocate General in point 71 of his Opinion, that objective fits within the pre-existing institutional balance and is pursued within the limits of the powers attributed to each EU institution by the Treaties, the authors of which did not intend, by means of the introduction of that mechanism, to deprive the Commission of the power of legislative initiative conferred on it by Article 17 TEU.
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