”How to use the tools of democracy to undermine it” could be the title of a populism playbook. While democracies promote political participation by providing tools like petitions and referendums, these same tools can be abused to undermine two core democratic principles: equality and the protection of minorities.

A petition calling for the ban of LGBTQIA+ topics from school curricula has sparked outrage in Luxembourg recently. The petition shouldn't even have been accepted, rights groups argue, as it puts forward discriminatory proposals. Among the residents, though, they seem to be popular. In just two days, the petition reached the number of signatures necessary to trigger a parliamentary debate.

The tools of direct democracy, such as petitions and referendums, turn out to be useful for far-right, eurosceptic, and other populist fringe groups, such as conspiracy theorists. Groups all over Europe claim that direct democracy is the only real democracy, denying the legitimacy of the European Commission and national governments which aren't elected by citizens. The eurosceptic Czech Freedom and Direct Democracy party even carries this claim in its name.