In response to the recurrent criticism levelled at the European Union’s policies lack of «bottom-up» legitimacy, the inclusion in the European treaties of original mechanisms of participatory democracy makes it possible to complement the model of representative democracy and combat the Union’s alleged «democratic deficit». More recently, alongside the «classic» participatory instruments (European elections, European citizens’ initiative, right of petition before the European Parliament, etc.), the Conference on the Future of Europe represents a democratic mechanism not expressly provided for in the treaties, but traceable to the principle of Art. 10(3) TEU, according to which ‘[e]very citizen shall have the right to participate in the democratic life of the Union’. While the organisation and modalities of the Conference demonstrate the will of the European political institutions to revive citizens’ participation in the democratic life of the Union, giving full meaning to the provisions of the treaties, at present the results of this initiative do not clarify the degree and effects of this renewed participation in European decision-making processes. The democratic openness that the Conference was intended to generate has not yet been effectively translated into institutional practices, which prudently preserve the role of representative bodies and the overall balance of the institutional system.