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

• f inviting the European Commission, within the framework
• f 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
• f support: 3 months to certify number of valid statements
• f support in each country.
• Once the validation process is completed, the organisers

submit their successful initiatives to the Commission, together with the certificates.

• 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

Rules and procedures (4)

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