Parliament gives go ahead to citizens' petitions

Welcoming the adoption of the regulation, European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič, who is in charge of ECIs at the EU executive, said "I'm delighted that the Parliament and Council have managed to reach agreement on the Citizens' Initiative so quickly".

"The ECI will introduce a whole new form of participatory democracy to the EU. It is a major step forward in the democratic life of the Union. It's a concrete example of bringing Europe closer to its citizens. And it will foster a cross border debate about what we are doing in Brussels and thus contribute, we hope, to the development of a real European public space," Šefčovič said.

"This is a milestone in the development of European democracy. I warmly encourage the European public to make use of the European Citizens' Initiative to bring matters of their concern to the top of the European agenda," said European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek after the vote. 

"The citizens' initiative will establish a direct link between the citizens and the European institutions, helping to bridge the gap between them and ensuring that the EU institutions address the concrete problems, which are of importance to them," Buzek said. "The citizens' initiative will constitute a unique exercise in democracy on an EU-wide scale," he added.

UK Liberal Democrat MEP and European Parliament Vice-President Diana Wallis (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe; ALDE), co-rapporteur on the ECI for the petitions committee, described the vote as "a really exciting breakthrough in giving the people of Europe the possibility to actually start the process of getting a Europe-wide law on something they feel strongly about".

"Few European countries offer this possibility to their population. It is great to see the EU and especially the Parliament in the lead in creating this first instrument of transnational direct democracy," Wallis said.  

"The EU's institutions can be incredibly remote and this initiative should give people an opportunity to make their voices heard. Whether the Commission can stomach it is another matter," said UK Conservative MEP Liam Fox.

"We have designed this proposal in such a way that it cannot be hijacked by well-funded lobby groups, many of whom receive significant amounts of money from the European Commission itself. The rules that we have put in place will help to ensure that petitions reflects grassroots opinion and strength of feeling. The abstract nature of decision-making across the EU means that lobby groups already enjoy significant access to the decision-making process; now it is time for people to have their say," Fox added.

Hungarian Socialists & Democrats MEP Zita Gurmai, European Parliament co-rapporteur on the ECI, said "the citizens' initiative is a unique opportunity. For the first time citizens can now get together and let us know if we are doing our job properly. We need this badly".

Leftist MEPs (GUE/NGL) Helmut Scholz of Germany and Bairbre de Brún of Ireland regretted that lawmakers had failed to extend the ECI to all EU residents and not just EU citizens. "It is important that we do not send out a signal that their views are not wanted or not welcome," they said.

Finnish ALDE MEP Anneli Jäätemmakki, shadow rapporteur in the Parliament's constitutional affairs (AFCO) committee, said: "The European Parliament wanted to make the European Citizens' Initiative as citizen-friendly as possible. We can be pleased with the result. I am especially delighted that the Commission and the Parliament have promised to organise a public hearing to guarantee that a successful initiative will be followed up appropriately. I hope that the European Citizens' Initiative will turn out to be a success and will broaden and refresh the debate on the future of the European Union."

UK Liberal Democrat MEP Andrew Duff, ALDE coordinator on the AFCO (constitutional affairs) committee, said: "Liberals and Democrats welcome the fact that the scope of the Citizens' Initiative has been drawn sufficiently wide to allow proposals to be made that would change the EU treaties. Here the new law accurately reflects the Treaty itself, which foresaw as permissive a process as possible in the interests of boosting the popular legitimacy of Europe's new federal democracy".

"We warmly welcome the introduction of the ECI. It is the first transnational instrument of participatory democracy in world history. With it, Europe enters a new territory of citizen participation. It is the result of nearly a decade of work," said Carsten Berg, campaign director at the ECI Campaign, a grassroots coalition of democracy advocates and NGOs dedicated to bringing the scheme to light.

The ultimate success or failure of the ECI, however, will depend on how the Commission responds to a successful ECI, Berg warned.

"One million citizens cannot be ignored. A successful ECI must have consequences and lead to political decisions. Only when citizens realize that they are actually being heard will this instrument strengthen the democratic engagement of citizens. Otherwise it will simply lead to more frustration."

"We wholeheartedly welcome this new right - but at the same time criticise the fact that citizen participation at the EU level will for the time being be restricted to a non-binding right of proposal. In the longer term, the rights of EU citizens must extend beyond this new non-binding right of proposal to include a direct and binding right of decision-making on important substantive issues," said Gerald Häfner of Democracy International.

"What will become of the ECI now lies in the hands of the citizens and of the Commission: whether it will be an effective instrument of citizen participation or merely a toothless tiger," Häfner said.

"We call upon the Commission to take successful ECIs extremely seriously. Every 'statement of support' (signature) will be the reflection of the express will of individual citizens. One million signatures of EU citizens can and must not be ignored. The citizens' initiatives must have consequences," he added.

"If the ECI is not to result in increased frustration, but rather in a strengthening of the democratic involvement of the citizens, people must be able to see that their sensible and reasonable proposals are being taken seriously and are being reflected in the policy decisions of the institutions," he concluded. A lower threshold of participating countries, earlier admissibility checks and a proper follow-up are the key achievements of the new regulation on the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI), according to the European Movement, an NGO.  

The NGO welcomed the regulation as citizen friendly and believes the ECI will be a unique tool to actively engage citizens in the agenda setting of EU policymaking.

However, "optional ID card requirements of member states in order to verify the authenticity of signatures might spoil the overall procedure, while it is worthwhile to mention that it won’t be mandatory and should differ significantly from country to country," the European Movement warned.