On 15 December 2010 the European Parliament agreed a set of rules to govern the implementation of the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) that will be formally adopted in a few weeks time. The legislation on the European Citizens' Initiative will come into force one year after it has been published in the Official Journal. The launch of the first citizens' initiatives will probably be possible from the beginning of 2012.

**********************************************************************

Archive

29 November 2010

The Campaign is awaiting the European Parliament's Session on the regulations to govern European Citizens Initiatives (ECIs) on 15 December 2010. We understand that the regulations will come into force in Spring 2011.

Some member states, who fear greater citizen participation in the legislative process, are insisting that each ECI signer should provide the number of their ID card or passport number - a requirement that would radically decrease participation. Independent data protection bodies in Europe say ID numbers are not necessary for verifying signers -- in fact gathering this data is intrusive and can lead to identity fraud. Several members of the European Parliament are passionately fighting to protect the ECI for us. We urgently need a massive citizen outcry to weigh in on their side and shame the blocking governments and officials into creating the direct democracy that citizens want. Please sign the petition below. MEP Gerald Häfner, who is at the forefront of the negotiations, will present our petition in every Brussels back room meeting where it can make a difference:

Sign the petition now, and please forward this message to everyone:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/eu_citizens_initiative/?vl

The "Citizens of Europe" website is running a campaign for simpler regulations that do not require so much personal information to be provided. Their website is on-line in English and German. Link below:

http://www.citizens-initiative.eu/?m=201003

Diana Wallis (ALDE UK) and Gerald Hafner (Greens/EFA DE) have presented a working paper on the Citizen's Initiative to the Petitions Committee.

Three main innovations were proposed in the working paper:

1) There should be no admissibility check when 300,000 signatures have been collected, rather there should be a pre-registration check that could evaluate if the petition is within an area of EU competence, or complies with the Charter of Human Rights.

2) The right to petition the European Parliament should be open to all European citizens and residents with no lower age limit, in other words it should not be limited to European Parliament electors, but should especially reach out to encourage debate and interest amongst young people.

3)The European Commission should be obliged to hold a public hearing with the organisers of the initiative once one million signatures have been reached.

The Proposals for the European Citizens' Initiative are at:

See: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/secretariat_general/citizens_initiative/docs/com_2010_119_en.pdf and http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52010PC0119:EN:NOT