EU to review future of the European Citizens' Initiative

The EU is to review the future of one of its flagship polices, the European Citizens’ Initiative, after an indifferent response from the public.

The ECI allows people to propose EU legislation, providing any such move is backed by at least one million citizens from at least seven member states.

In 2012 and 2013, interest in the scheme was high with over 46 ECIs submitted. But only 26 were registered, three succeeded and none led to any meaningful action. Only three ECIs are now "active."

A three-year review of the scheme is planned for April.

The most recent submission under the European Citizens' Initiative calls on the EU to propose a European legislative framework aimed at phasing out animal experiments.

During a recent public hearing organized by the Constitutional Affairs and Petitions committee in Parliament,some stakeholders criticised the ECI as flawed.

Carsten Berg, coordinator for The ECI Campaign, said the scheme should be "redesigned."

EU commissioner Frans Timmermans conceded that the ECI has not worked well enough and took personal responsibility to improve it.

In order to launch a citizens' initiative, citizens must form a "citizens' committee" who must be EU citizens old enough to vote in the European Parliament elections.

Citizens' initiatives cannot be run by organisations. However, organisations can promote or support initiatives provided that they do so with full transparency.

The Commission is not obliged to propose legislation as a result of an initiative.

If the Commission decides to put forward a legislative proposal, the normal legislative procedure kicks off: the Commission proposal is submitted to the legislator and, if adopted, it becomes law.

An "ECI Day" has been organized for mid April by the European Economic and Social Committee in Brussels, co-organised with assistance of The ECI Campaign.

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