PURPOSE: to reform the European Citizens’
Initiative in order to facilitate its organisation.
PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament
and of the Council.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN
PARLIAMENT: The European Parliament decides in accordance with the
ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the
Council.
BACKGROUND: the instrument of the European Citizens'
Initiative (ECI) was introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon and was
made operational on 1 April 2012 by Regulation
No 211/2011.
The aim of this instrument is to enhance citizens'
involvement in the democratic life of the European Union, by
allowing them to directly address the Commission with a request to
submit a proposal for legal acts of the Union for the purpose of
implementing the Treaties.
Since its first
report on the application of the Regulation adopted in 2015,
the Commission has implemented a series of non-legislative measures
to facilitate the use of the instrument by organisers and citizens
and to mitigate the main problems identified, namely:
- the difficulties encountered by the organisers in the
registration phase including the high rate of refusals to
register proposed citizens’ initiatives;
- the complexity for organisers of initiatives to
collect statements of support, as evidenced by the low rate of
successful initiatives;
- differences in requirements for personal data
of signatories;
- low number of initiatives reaching the one million threshold and the limited
impact so far generated by citizens' initiatives.
The resolution
of the European Parliament of 28 October 2015 highlighted a number
of problems and called for the revision of Regulation (EU) No
211/2011 and the adoption of a package of amendments to improve the
functioning of the ECI.
IMPACT ASSESSMENT: no impact assessment has been
carried out. The Commission notes, however, that technical and
practical measures to simplify the ECI should reduce the
administrative burden for both organisers and Member
States.
CONTENT: the proposal seeks to replace Regulation No
211/2011 with a view to improving the way the ECI operates, with
the main policy objectives of:
- making the ECI more accessible, less burdensome and
easier to use for organisers and
supporters;
- achieving the full potential of the ECI as a tool to
foster debate and participation,
including that of young people, at European level and to bring the
EU closer to its citizens.
Concretely, the proposal:
- stipulates the right of every citizen of the Union
of at least 16 years of age to support an initiative by signing
the statement of support;
- introduces the requirement to make available an
online collaborative platform for the ECI providing a
discussion forum as well as information and advice to organisers,
support to organisers with regard to the translation of the main
elements of their initiatives into all official languages
of the Union for publication in the
Register;
- provides for the requirements for the organisers of
initiatives, including the formation, composition and
responsibilities of the group of organisers composed by at least
seven citizens of the Union entitled to vote in the elections to
the European Parliament and residents of at least seven Member
States;
- provides that statements of support may only be
collected after an initiative has been registered and establishes
the requirements for the registration or refusal of
initiatives;
- clarifies that statements of support for initiatives
may be collected online or in paper form and that only forms which
comply with the models set out in Annex III of the Regulation may
be used to collect statements of support. Personal data to be
provided by the signatory would be reduced;
- introduces the requirement for the Commission to
set-up and operate, by 1 January 2020, a central online
collection system made available free of charge to organisers
of registered initiatives and allowing citizens to provide support
to initiatives online;
- stipulates the possibility for organisers to set up
their own individual online collection systems, the security
and technical features for these systems and the procedure for the
verification by the competent national authorities in the Member
States;
- provides that each Member State shall verify and
certify the statements of support signed by their
nationals;
- lays down the conditions and time limits for
the submission of initiatives to the Commission;
- sets out the publication and public hearing
phase for initiatives submitted to the Commission and sets out
the conditions for the public hearing at the European Parliament
within three months from the submission of the initiative by the
organisers;
- obliges the Commission to receive the group of
organisers at an appropriate level as well as to set out in a
Communication its legal and political conclusions on the
initiative, the actions it intends to take, if any, and its
reasons for taking or not taking action;
- provides for awareness-raising and
communication activities on the ECI to be carried out by the
Commission.
BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS: the specific budgetary
implications of the proposal relate to a number of online systems
for the European citizens’ initiative which the Commission
will put in place and make available free of charge to citizens and
organisers.
The estimated impact on expenditure (in commitment
appropriations) is estimated at EUR 2.050 million for 2019 and
EUR 2.140 million for 2020. For administrative expenditure, the
impact is estimated to EUR 1.071 million per year.