The Conference on ‘European Citizens’ Initiatives: on the starting line’ was organised by the European Citizen Action Service (ECAS), a civil society group, and Democracy International.
In a keynote speech, Maroš Šefčovič, vice president of the European Commission in charge of ECI, stressed that it will “change the game of EU policy-making”.
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The first challenge is the degree of readiness of member states in light of the official launch, including certifying the number of signatures. Besides technical and legal issues, the commitment of member states is variable. Moreover, said Šefčovič, “it is important to raise awareness amongst Europeans, including promotional campaigns at national level”.
According to Lucy Swan of the European Commission, the certification process at country level is not an issue, since most member states have either implemented the regulation into national law or have a certification process in place anyway.
A comparative study undertaken by the Open Society Institute amongst the EU27 shows that most of them are lagging behind. For Swan, “member states should take a very pragmatic approach to the collection of support and exchange good practices amongst them”.
The second challenge is the need for a neutral civil society helpdesk to assist future initiators, in terms of legal, communication and translation support. Meglena Kuneva, former EU Commissioner and honorary president of ECAS said: “There is a limit to what the Institutions can do as they have to be impartial. The helpdesk should be provided by civil society organisations, which are neutral.”
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and The Committee of the Regions (CoR) are also exploring how they could support such services.
In January, the Commission launched an ECI official registration website and will use Europe Direct’s 400 generalist contact points to provide informal advice to initiators “not to prejudice the process”, as said Swan. For German MEP Gerald Häfner (Greens), one of the originators of the ECI, a helpdesk “needs to be a separate organisation from the institutions supported by public funds and bringing together civil society experts.” This is essential for small NGOs, lacking resources to run such a demanding process.
A few support projects have emerged such as initiative.eu, using social media tools to federate initiators during the pre-registration phase, or individual NGOs like ECAS and Democracy International are ready to assist. However, funding is lacking to unleash the ECI potential as a game changer in EU policy-making.
Many questions remain. Are all institutions ready? Are social media and e-participation the answer to Europe’s democratic deficit? Will Europe be a Europe of the citizens? The ECI is a first step in this journey toward a European participatory democracy.
“We are establishing the first transnational instrument of participative democracy: it’s a premiere!” said Bruno Kaufmann, President of the Initiative and Referendum Institute Europe.
