The fifth session of the week focused on how to launch a European citizens’ initiative. During the session the panellists provided the participants with relevant tips and highlighted which conditions needed to be met to register an initiative. If you weren’t able to watch the session, the recording is now available.
During this session we discussed the importance of making the European Citizens’ Initiative better known among EU citizens. We focused on the role of local actors including national contact points and European Citizens’ Initiative ambassadors. They provided participants with ideas on how to better communicate about the tool and get more citizens involved. If you weren’t able to watch the session, the recording is now available.
Initiative organisers and experts in online campaigning came together to discuss the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak and offered advice on how to overcome challenges. They also discussed what has been done by the European Commission to support organisers. If you weren’t able to watch the session, the recording is now available.
On 15 November 2020, the organisers of the initiative “Freedom to share” launched their signature collection campaign. They have to collect one million signatures until 15 November 2021, meeting the required threshold in at least seven EU countries. Learn more about the initiative.
Today, Věra Jourová, Vice-President for Values and Transparency and Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety meet the organisers of the European Citizens' Initiative ‘End the Cage Age', after they collected and submitted to the Commission close to 1,4 million signatures. This is the 6th successful European Citizens' Initiative so far.
In the latest blogpost on the European Citizens' Initiative Forum, Dr. Manès Weisskircher, political scientist at TU Dresden (MIDEM — Mercator Forum Migration and Democracy) offers his solutions to further improve the efficacy of the European Citizens' Initiative.
The European Parliament held on 15 October, a public hearing on the fifth successful European citizens’ initiative entitled “Minority Safepack”. The initiative organisers had the opportunity to present their initiative in the presence of the European Commission, the Council of Europe, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. The recording of the hearing is now available.
Share your views on the role of regional actors in supporting the European Citizens’ Initiative. How do you see this issue? Can regional actors contribute to make the European Citizens’ Initiative better known amongst citizens? If you missed the workshop during the EU Week of regions looking at this issue, the recording is now available. https://euregionsweek2020-video.eu/video/my-citizens-voice-in-the-eu
Last month the European Commission released the last version of the Online Collection Software. However, it will not maintain this open source version further as the new ECI regulation does not give mandate to the European Commission to do so. Instead, the Commission encourages all organisers to use the Central Online Collection System.
Today, the organisers of the initiative “Start Unconditional Basic Incomes (UBI) throughout the EU” initiative launched their signature collection campaign. They will have one year to collect one million signatures , meeting the required threshold in at least seven EU countries. Learn more about the initiative.
The workshop held on 24 September as part of the Online Forum on Modern Direct Democracy enabled the sharing of experiences among various systems for collecting signatures of support. What can the European Citizens’ Initiative’s Central Online Collection System learn from other systems and examples? If you missed the workshop, the recording is now available.
In this latest blogpost published on the European Citizens’ Initiative Forum, Bruno Kaufman discusses the evolution of transnational referendums across Europe and what the future holds for such instruments of participatory democracy.
If you’ve missed the webinar organised by the European Citizens’ Initiative Forum about the tools to help you on your European Citizens’ Initiative journey, do not worry. The recording is now available! You can catch-up with Assya Kavrakova, Director, ECAS, Adriana Mungiu-Pătraşcu, Policy Officer, European Commission and Jérôme Stefanini, IT Project Officer, European Commission to discover what has been put in place to support you throughout the whole European Citizens’ Initiative process. The recording is available in English
Take a look at the latest blogpost by Jasmin Hiry, PhD researcher at the Department of Law at the University of Luxembourg. The focus is on the success of the European Citizens’ Initiative in light of its place in the Treaties. Share your thoughts and reactions on the Forum! The blogpost is in English.
