Warming up for the citizens' initiative

As required by the Treaty, on a proposal from the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council adopted a Regulation which defines the rules and procedure governing this new instrument. As a ‘warming up’ to the first European Citizens' Initiatives starting as of April 2012, the Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič will host this conference on the implementation of ECI, and the potential of using social networks. 

Agenda

9.30 – 10.20 INTRODUCTION

9.30 – 10.00 Getting ready for the ECI – Where the Commission stands in implementing the Regulation

Speech by Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President of the European Commission

10.00 – 10.20 Getting off to a good start - the role of Member States in the successful launch of the ECI

Speech by Nicolai Wammen, Minister for European Affairs, Danish Presidency of the

Council of the European Union (invited)

10.20 – 12.30 THE ECI IN PRACTICE

10.20 – 10.50 The ECI procedure step by step and demonstration of the Commission Register by Mário Tenreiro, Head of Unit for General Institutional Issues, Secretariat General,European Commission

10.50 – 11.00 The software for online collection by Declan Deasy, Director for Information Systems and Interoperability Solutions,Directorate General for Informatics, European Commission

11.00 – 11.20 Coffee break

11.20 – 12.30 PANEL I: IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ECI IN THE MEMBER STATES

AND PERSPECTIVES BASED ON EXPERIENCE WITH EXISTING INITIATIVES AT NATIONAL LEVEL

11.20 – 12.00 Panel discussion

• Moderator: Jens Nymand-Christensen, Director, Secretariat General, European
• Commission
• Panellists: Robert Stein, Head of Department of Electoral Affairs, Federal Ministry of
• the Interior, Republic of Austria
• Witold Jarzynka, Deputy Director, Department for State Register and ICT,
• Ministry of Interior and Administration, Republic of Poland (invited)
• Bruno Kaufmann, President, Initiative and Referendum Institute Europe

12.00 – 12.30 Questions from the floor and discussion

12.30 – 14.00 Buffet lunch

14.00 – 15.30 PANEL II: THE POTENTIAL FOR USING SOCIAL NETWORKS

14.00 – 15.00 Panel discussion

• Moderator: Francisco García Morán, Director General for Informatics, European
• Commission
• Panellists: Elliot Schrage, Vice President of Global Communications, Marketing and Public Policy, Facebook (invited)
• Simon Hampton, Director of European Public Policy, Google
• Colin Crowell, Head of Global Public Policy, Twitter (invited)
• Guiseppe de Martino, Secretary General, Dailymotion
• Christophe Leclercq, Co-Founder of Initiative.eu & Fondation EurActiv PoliTech
• Mark P. McDonald, Vice-President, Gartner Group

15.00 – 15.30 Questions from the floor and discussion

15.30 – 15.45 Coffee break

15.45 – 17.15 PANEL III: THE FOLLOW-UP TO AN INITIATIVE

15.45 – 16.45 Panel discussion

• Moderator: Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President of the European Commission
• Panellists: Alain Lamassoure, Member of the European Parliament
• Zita Gurmai, Member of the European Parliament (invited)
• Diana Wallis, Member of the European Parliament (invited)
• Gerald Häfner, Member of the European Parliament
• Staffan Nilsson, President of the European Economic and Social Committee (invited)
• Mercedes Bresso, President of the Committee of the Regions

16.45 – 17.15 Questions from the floor and discussion

17.15 – 17.30 CLOSING REMARKS

by Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President of the European Commission