About: citizen initiative

Weak participatory tools hinder citizens’ attempts to shape EU policies

The EU’s attempts to encourage citizens’ engagement through participatory tools has made little impact due to the lack of information and clear follow-up, experts say.

Cities’ empowerment initiatives risk being ‘paper exercises’, experts warn

Projects meant to give power to EU city dwellers risk being reduced to a 'box-ticking' exercise unless municipal leaders can convince as many of their constituents as possible to participate.

DEMOTEC – Democratising Territorial Cohesion: Experimenting with deliberative citizen engagement and participatory budgeting in European regional and urban policies

DEMOTEC investigate the role of participatory budgeting in fostering greater and more informed citizen participation in policy-making.

German minorities criticise EU for rejecting citizens’ initiative

More than 1.1 million people demanded that the Commission do more to protect minorities, but Brussels neglected to take action. German minority associations are outraged and are trying to build up the pressure through the member states. EURACTIV Germany reports.

Commission opposes European Citizens’ Initiative against TTIP

The European Citizens' Initiative STOP TTIP has been dismissed by the European Commission. Its organisers now want to take the decision to the European courts.

EU’s civil society giants push for treaty change

NGOs and civil society organisations demanded "a new wave of inclusiveness" and more citizens' participation in EU decision-making on Tuesday (8 July), pushing to put treaty change back on the political table.

The European Citizens’ Initiative

The European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) is the EU's foremost instrument of direct democracy and the first of its kind in a transnational context. Introduced by the Lisbon Treaty, will be used from 1 April 2012.

The European Citizens’ Initiative: Next step, implementation

The rules for the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) will place politically sensitive burdens on the European Commission while offering the European Parliament new opportunities to engage with its voters, argue Corina Stratulat and Janis A. Emmanouilidis, analysts at the European Policy Centre (EPC). Failure to clearly specify not only the potential but also the limits of the ECI could in the end breed popular frustration with the new instrument, which would have detrimental effects across the board, they warn. 

EU institutions close in on citizens’ petitions

Representatives of all three EU institutions this week outlined an agreement on implementing the European Citizens' Initiative, paving the way for the first petitions to be accepted next year once outstanding issues have been ironed out later this month. 

Socialists plan ‘Citizens’ Initiative’ on taxing speculation

The Socialists may become the first to use the new European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) introduced by the Lisbon Treaty in their bid to request new EU legislation on taxing financial speculation, according to their leader Martin Schulz.

A Revolution in Disguise: The European Citizens’ Initiative

Despite being undiscovered by many, the European Citizens' Initiative plants the seeds for the creation of a common European sphere and genuine European parties, write Dominik Hierlemann and Anna Wohlfarth in an August commentary for the Bertelsmann Stiftung.

Ministers pave way for first EU ‘Citizens’ Initiatives’

EU governments yesterday (14 June) outlined a "general approach" to the European Citizens' Initiative, paving the way for citizens to call on the European Commission to table legislative proposals on specific issues. 

Šef?ovi?: EEAS to reach ‘balanced’ representation by 2013

The European External Action Service (EEAS) plans to achieve an inter-institutional balance by filling member states' quotas by 2013, Maroš Šef?ovi?, European Commission vice-president responsible for inter-institutional relations and administration, told EURACTIV in an exclusive interview.