(European) Citizens’ initiatives flounder one year after launch

EurActiv ^ | 12 April 2013 | Samuel Doveri Vesterbye

[Olog-hai]

The European Citizens’ Initiative is struggling to gain momentum a year after being launched, bogged down by technical and bureaucratic hurdles that have prevented a single petition from meeting all the requirements, civic activists say.

ECIs are a form of petition created under the 2009 Lisbon Treaty to encourage grassroots involvement in European lawmaking.

Of the nearly 30 proposed ECIs, only 14 have successfully registered and just one—focusing on water rights—has gathered the required one million signatures. But the latter falls short of requirements because the signatures come only from five EU states, two short of the minimum needed. …

[Olog-hai]

Even if you get a million signatures across seven countries (with the required minimum in each country), the European Commission is under no obligation whatsoever to put the petition you wrote up for a vote in the European Parliament. They have the discretion of throwing it in the wastebasket without even looking at it. And of course, petitions on breaking up the EU are considered “silly” and get filed under “G”.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Olog-hai.

The European Citizens’ Initiative is struggling to gain momentum a year after being launched, bogged down by technical and bureaucratic hurdles that have prevented a single petition from meeting all the requirements... ECIs are a form of petition created under the 2009 Lisbon Treaty to encourage grassroots involvement... Of the nearly 30 proposed ECIs, only 14 have successfully registered and just one... has gathered the required one million signatures.