Initiative.eu: Federating Stakeholders for European Citizens Initiatives

THE EUROPEAN CITIZENS’ INITIATIVE PROCESS

The Lisbon Treaty (Art. 11.4) introduces the idea of the citizens’ initiative, whereby citizens will have the opportunity to call on the Commission to bring forward new policy proposals if they have the support of 1 million people from a significant number of EU Member States.

ECI Official Process

ECI FAQ

Question: What is a citizens’ committee?

Answer: Initiatives must be organised by a Citizens' Committee composed of at least 7 EU citizens, who are resident in at least 7 different EU countries. Members of the European Parliament cannot be counted among the 7 citizens needed.

Question: What is the minimum number of statements of support required for an initiative?

Answer: An initiative must be backed (in the form of "statements of support") by at least 1 million EU citizens from 7 or more EU member countries.

Question: What is the minimum number of signatories per EU member country?

Answer: In 7 countries among those where statements of support have been collected, there are a minimum number of statements to be reached (equal to the number of MEPs elected in that country, multiplied by 750). Check these minimum numbers for each member country in Annex I of the Regulation.

Question: What is the minimum age required to organize and support an initiative?

Answer: The minimum age required is the voting age for European Parliament elections (currently 18 in every EU country except Austria, where it is 16).

Question: How do I register my initiative?

Answer: Initiators have to ask for the registration of their proposed initiative in one of the EU’s official languages in an online register made available by the Commission. The Commission has to answer within two months.

Question: How can statements of support be collected?

Answer: Statements of support can be collected on paper or online. Starting from the date the proposed initiative is registered, the initiators will have 1 year to collect these statements across EU countries.

Question: What is the process for online collection of supports?

Answer: Before starting to collect statements online, initiators must ask the relevant national authority of the EU member country where the data will be stored to certify their online collection system. The authority must reply within 1 month. The Commission will make available open source software that can be used by initiators to collect statements of support online. The Commission will also adopt technical specifications to help initiators build their collection system.

Question: How can initiators verify and certify their collected statement of supports?

Answer: Once the initiators have collected the required number of statements, they will submit them for verification and certification to the relevant national authorities in each country. Within 3 months the national authorities should deliver certificates indicating the number of valid statements of support collected.

Question: How does a succesful Citizen’s Initiative is submit and examine?

Answer: After obtaining the certificates from the national authorities, the initiators submit their initiative to the Commission. The Commission will have 3 months to examine it and decide how to react. During that period, the Commission will meet the initiators, so they can explain the issues rose in their initiative. In addition, the initiators will also have the opportunity to present their initiative at a public hearing organised at the European Parliament. The Commission will answer successful initiatives in a communication, explaining its conclusions and what action it intends to take, if any, and its reasoning.

Question: How will transparency in funding and backers be ensured and checked?

Answer: Initiators must provide regularly updated information on the sources of support and funding for their initiative.

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