European Citizens' Initiative
The European Citizens' Initiative is a European Union mechanism aimed at increasing direct democracy by enabling "EU citizens to participate directly in the development of EU policies", introduced with the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007. This popular initiative enables one million citizens of the European Union, with a minimum number of nationals from at least seven member states, to call directly on the European Commission to propose a legal act in an area where the member states have conferred powers onto the EU level. This right to request the commission to initiate a legislative proposal puts citizens on the same footing as the European Parliament and the European Council, who enjoy this right according to Articles 225 and 241 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The commission holds the right of initiative in the EU.
The first registered ECI, Fraternité 2020, was initiated on 9 May 2012, although the first submitted ECI was One Single Tariff., 14 initiatives have been successful in acquiring the required signatures.
Historical background
The ECI has its origins in the Constitutional Convention on the Future of Europe in 2002–2003. Thanks to the campaign work of activists and Convention members the ECI was introduced in a last-minute act into the Constitutional Treaty.In 2005, the Constitutional Treaty was rejected by the citizens of France and the Netherlands in two national referendums. As a consequence of that, Intergovernmental Conference prepared the Treaty of Lisbon. The treaty ratification was delayed due to referendum in Ireland where it was initially rejected in June 2008 by the Irish electorate, a decision which was reversed in a second referendum in October 2009.
On 13 December 2007, the Treaty of Lisbon was signed by all the EU Member States. On 11 November 2009, the European Commission published a Green Paper on the European Citizens' Initiative, launching a public consultation process on the ECI.
The council and the commission came up with a preliminary compromise on 14 June 2010. After it produced several drafts and opinions that were discussed in the Constitutional Affairs and Petitions Committees, the European Parliament, on 15 December 2010, finally voted on the ECI Regulation. After one year of negotiations, all three main EU institutions agreed on a final ECI Regulation, on 16 February 2011.
The initiative was inspired by Switzerland, which is not a member of the EU. The country has several tools of direct democracy such as the federal popular initiative and the optional referendum.
Legal basis
The legal basis of the citizens' initiative is set out in Article 11, Paragraph 4 of the Treaty on European Union and Article 24, paragraph 1 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Both articles were newly introduced with the Treaty of Lisbon. The ECI complements the existing right of petitioning the European Parliament and the right of appeal to the Ombudsman as set out in the Treaty of Maastricht. Petitions and the ECI are fundamentally different however in terms of function, addressees and conditions.The practical arrangements, conditions and procedure of the ECI are determined in the Regulation 2019/788 on the European citizens' initiative, which has been applicable since 1 January 2020. Commission Implementing Regulation No 2019/1779 lays down technical specifications for the ECI's online collection systems.
The regulation 2019/788 replaced the original regulation 211/2011. Initiatives that were registered until 31 December 2019 are still partly governed by the old rules:
• General rules – Regulation No 211/2011
• Online signature collection – Regulation No 1179/2011
The new Regulation requires a review by 1 January 2024, and every three years thereafter. In the review process, the commission presents a report on the implementation of the ECI regulation with a view to its possible revision, to which the European Parliament reacts in a report with further recommendations.
Initiatives
Before entry into force
collected one million signatures in December 2010 for a petition, hosted by Avaaz, against the authorisation of new GM crops in Europe. Although Greenpeace has called the petition an ECI in the media, it has never been formally registered with the commission, which would not have been possible before 1 April 2012, and so can therefore not be regarded an ECI, as introduced by the Lisbon Treaty.First registered initiative
The European Commission chose the symbolic date of 9 May 2012 to officially launch the first ECI. It turned out to be Fraternité 2020. It was officially registered on 9 May, its registration number being ECI000001. The initiative failed to reach the required number of signatures.First six successful initiatives
Right2Water
On 21 March 2013, Right2Water became the first ECI to collect more than a million signatures and it reached the minimum quota of signatures in seven countries on 7 May 2013. It stopped collecting signatures on 7 September 2013, with a total of 1,857,605 signatures. The initiative was submitted to the commission in December 2013 and its public hearing at the European Parliament took place on 17 February 2014. In March 2014, the commission adopted the Communication in response to the Right2Water initiative. On 1 July 2015, the commission published the Roadmap for the evaluation of the Drinking Water Directive and in February 2018, a proposal for the revision of the Drinking Water Directive. In December 2020, the European Parliament and the Council adopted the revised Directive, which entered into force in January 2021.The commission has also carried out a number of in response to this initiative.
One of Us
The pro-life initiative One of Us also was among the very first batch of initiatives to be registered. On 28 February 2014, One of Us was submitted to the commission as an ECI, having gathered 1,896,852 signatures. The initiative sought that the EU "establish a ban and end the financing of activities which presuppose the destruction of human embryos, in particular in the areas of research, development aid and public health." Uniquely for European Citizen Initiatives, it comprised an elaborated legislative draft which it asked the European Commission to use as a basis for a legislative procedure. The primary component of the draft was a proposal to introduce into the EU's Financial Regulation language that would have specifically prohibited the EU from funding any activity involving, directly or indirectly, the destruction of human embryos. This was further spelt out in proposed amendments to the EU's research program Horizon 2020 and to the EU's legislation on development aid.A public hearing on the initiative took place at the European Parliament on 10 April 2014. On 28 May 2014 the European Commission adopted the Communication on the European Citizens' Initiative "One of us".
The commission decided not to submit a legislative proposal since it considered the existing legal framework, as decided by Member States and the European Parliament only a few months before the submission of the ECI, as appropriate. In its Communication, it explained extensively why it considered that there was no need to modify the legal framework, claiming that the EU did not finance, and never had financed, any activities of the kind targeted by the ECI.
The One of Us initiative subsequently sued the European Commission, arguing, among other things, that the Commission's refusal to act was not properly argued, and that the commission's failure to submit a legislative proposal deprived the co-legislators of the EU, the European Parliament and the Council, of the possibility to take a stance on the successful ECI. The lawsuit remained unsuccessful before the General Court in April 2018 and on appeal before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Justice in December 2019.
Stop Vivisection
On 3 March 2015, the third European Citizens' Initiative to gather the required number of signatories, Stop Vivisection, was submitted to the commission. The campaign collected 1,326,807 signatures. On 11 May 2015, a public hearing at the European Parliament took place. On 3 June 2015, the European Commission adopted the Communication on the European Citizens' Initiative "Stop Vivisection" proposing a series of non-legislative follow-up actions.Ban glyphosate and protect people and the environment from toxic pesticides
The initiative was submitted to the Commission on 6 October 2017. By that date, 1,070,865 signatures from 22 Member States had beenchecked and validated. The commission adopted a communication on 12 December 2017, setting out the actions it intends to take in response to the initiative.
On 11 April 2018, the commission adopted a proposal for a Regulation on transparency and sustainability of the EU risk assessment in the food chain. The Regulation was adopted by the European Parliament and Council in June 2019. The new legislation started applying on 27 March 2021.