European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) EESC NAT Section meeting 6 - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) EESC NAT Section meeting 6 February 2017

European Citizens' Initiative • - ECI allows EU citizens to participate directly in the development of EU policies, by calling on the European Commission to make a legislative proposal. • - 1st transnational tool of participatory democracy - unique opportunity to bring the EU closer to citizens. • - ECI objectives must be in a field where the Commission has the power to propose legislation. • - Obtain support by at least one million EU citizens , coming from at least 7 out of the 28 member states.

Legal framework Introduced by the Lisbon Treaty - Article 11(4) TUE: Not less than one million citizens who are nationals of a � significant number of Member States may take the initiative of inviting the European Commission, within the framework of its powers , to submit any appropriate proposal on matters where citizens consider that a legal act of the Union is required for the purpose of implementing the Treaties . � Article 24 TFEU: Ordinary legislative procedure to adopt the provisions for the procedures and conditions including the minimum number of Member States from which such citizens must come.

Legal framework (2) - Regulation (EU) No 211/2011 on the citizens' initiative � Adopted by Parliament and Council in February 2011 and applicable since 1 April 2012 � Rules and procedures for the implementation of the ECI - Commission Implementing Regulation 1179/2011 � Laying down the technical specifications for online collection systems pursuant to the ECI Regulation • - Member States competences (e.g. certification of OCS; verification of signatures) - Expert Group on the ECI

Rules and procedures (1) • Citizens’ committee (at least 7 EU citizens living in at least 7 different Member States) to launch initiative; • Registration in Commission’s online register (Commission’s answer within 2 months). ECI should not be: - Manifestly outside the Commission’s powers to propose legal act implementing the Treaties - Manifestly abusive, frivolous or vexatious - Manifestly contrary to EU values

Rules and procedures (2) • The Commission's decision to register a proposed citizens' initiative concerns only these conditions for registration under Article 4 of the ECI Regulation. • The Commission does not assess the substance of the proposed initiatives at the registration phase. • Should the initiative receive one million statements of support, within one year , from at least seven different Member States , the Commission will have to react within three months.

Rules and procedures (3) • If organisers have collected sufficient statements of support: • Member States responsible for verification of statements of support: 3 months to certify number of valid statements of support in each country. • Once the validation process is completed, the organisers submit their successful initiatives to the Commission, together with the certificates.

Rules and procedures (4) • Final stage for successful initiatives: - Commission meets the organisers at appropriate level, so that they can explain their initiative - Public hearing at the European Parliament with the Commission, - Commission has 3 months to respond , by adopting a Communication explaining its legal and political conclusions on the initiative , what action it intends to take, if any, and its reasoning behind such decision

State of play The Commission has received 61 requests for the registration of proposed citizens' initiatives: � 41 initiatives registered � An estimated 6 million statements of support have already been collected by organisers of citizens' initiatives � 3 have reached the 1-million threshold and have been submitted to and responded by the Commission � 4 currently open – collecting statements of support

Ongoing initiatives � " People4Soil: sign the citizens' initiative to save the soils of Europe! "– registered 12/09/2016. � " More than Education-Shaping active and responsible citizens "– registered 06/10/2016. � " European Free Movement Instrument " – registered on 11/01/2017. " Ban glyphosate and protect people and the � environment from toxic pesticides " – registered on 25/01/2017. � Information: http://ec.europa.eu/citizens-initiative

Thank you for your attention http://ec.europa.eu/citizens-initiative