The ECI Campaign, the Latvian presidency of the Council and the General Secretariat of the Council organized jointly on Tuesday 16 June, a conference on the ECI and the promise of participatory democracy.
The European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) is the world’s first tool for transnational participatory and digital democracy. A major innovation of the Treaty of Lisbon (Article 11.4), it allows one million EU citizens to invite the Commission to submit a proposal for a legal act to implement the Treaties. The ECI aims to both increase citizen participation in the EU and make the EU more responsive to citizens’ needs. Since April 2012, 51 ECIs were officially submitted and 31 were registered by the Commission, including five which were submitted twice. Over six million citizens have signed an ECI. Three ECIs have succeeded in collecting one million signatures. Three ECIs are currently ongoing. Regulation 211/2011 on the citizens’ initiative is currently up for review. The Commission has presented a report to the European Parliament and the Council on the application of the ECI Regulation. Both institutions are now preparing their response.
With this conference, they seek to clarify both the ECI’s potential and its challenges, as well as identify specific ways in which it may be improved. In particular, they:
• explained to those who are new to the ECI the history and design of the ECI, and the problems encountered in its use by campaigners, national governments and EU institutions
• identified areas where the ECI could be simplified and strengthened, for the benefit of all parties involved.
• placed the ECI in the broader context of European democracy and growing demands from citizens throughout Europe for more participation in public policy, including via digital platforms.
Ms Lukasevica (Parliamentary State Secretary for EU Affairs of Latvia) spoke out on behalf of the Latvian presidency and clearly supported the ECI and its reform. She claimed that ECI is a living instrument which means constant change and we should use its full potential. According to her, ECI constitutes the most important democratic direct tool in Europe and urged for a more open and democratic Europe with main focus on its citizens.
Mr. Martenczuk (Member of the Private Office of the First Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans) pointed out Commission’s commitment to make ECI work and succeed, even if the figures are low, the debate is still there. ECI is a very important tool in times of crisis of democratic legitimacy. He added that ECI has to be more user-friendly but it is not the panacea to solve participatory at democracy at EU level.
Mr. Schopflin (MEP, Hungary) began his contribution by saying that political debate is not enough and ECI should change EU law. In that respect he confirmed that his report is ready with 124 amendments and the discussions ongoing. For the Hungarian MEP revitalization of ECI is possible, while he asked for better explanation of the Commission and talked about digital citizenship. Long term of digital citizenship could make free movement complete and avoid any kind of discrimination, stressed Mr. Schopflin by concluding.