News

In the past few months, we’ve welcomed three new ECI Ambassadors to our network.

Our ECI Ambassadors are vital in helping to make available information about the ECI at national and local level and empower citizens to make use of their EU citizenship rights. Our newest ECI Ambassadors come from a variety of organisations and have expertise in participatory democracy.

We would like to welcome:

• The Bulgarian School of Politics ‘Dimitry Panitza’
• Grega Donša, Head of Europe Direct Information Centre, Pomurje, Slovenia
• The European Youth Parliament, Finland

If you would like to find out more about our ECI Ambassador programme, visit the ECI website by clicking ‘more’.

On 6 March, members of the ECI Communicators Network gathered in Brussels. Participants shared best practices at national level, and discussed how to engage youth audiences, improve media coverage, use the hook of the 2024 elections, and more.

Inspiration and motivation for spreading information about the ECI was high. Stay tuned for new engagement ideas and actions.

In the meantime, check out existing communicator tools available in all official EU languages.

On 20 March, the Commission presented its report on the application of Regulation (EU) 2019/788 on the European Citizens’ Initiative to the European Parliament’s Committee on Constitutional Affairs.

The report covers the four-year period from 2020, when the reformed ECI rules came into force. The report announces several actions to further improve the functioning of the ECI, taking into account feedback collected from ECI organisers, national authorities, citizens and other stakeholders.

A copy of the report is available for download in all EU languages.

A video of the meeting is available by clicking 'more’. The discussion on the ECI starts at 11:35.

Between 21 and 23 March the three winning teams of the ImagineEU video competition from Italy, France, and Romania visited Brussels for their award ceremony. They also had the chance to learn more about the EU institutions and the city that hosts them.

You can watch their videos here.

Congratulations to the winning teams and their teachers, and many thanks to all teams who took part in the competition.

Already voted for your favorite videos and want to make some noise about the competition? A promotional video is now available on our website!

Download it or share from the ECI Facebook group.

The ‘European Citizens’ Initiative Info Packet for Civil Society Organisations’, developed in collaboration with CSOs across the EU, is a comprehensive guide that provides insights on launching and supporting ECIs, fostering a united approach to citizen engagement. Dive into the essential information tailored for CSOs, by CSOs, on the ECI Forum’s homepage.

Discover the latest insights on the ECI in the Forum’s new blog post! The Commission's comprehensive review acknowledges the ECI Forum for its support to initiative organisers, with positive assessments and feedback from the consultations.

Dive into the details of the report, explore ECI successes, and learn about the European Parliament's ideas for improvement.

Dive into the latest blog post featuring Elise Fleury, the Campaign Lead at Eurogroup for Animals, as she discusses the ‘Fur Free Europe’ initiative and the key factors for success in an interview for the ECI Forum.

Communication about the European Citizens’ Initiative would not be the same without the support of our Ambassadors. Whether it is at external events, on social media, through blogs or more, our voice is heard also thanks to them.

Visit our website and check what they are doing online!

Ending the year in style! The ECI Facebook group reached 1100 members in 2023 and more and more discussions are posted by users.

Road to 2000! Join by clicking on ‘more’ below and help us grow the ECI community.

Calling all civil society organisation – The CERV (Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values) programme launched the 2024 ‘Union values’ call with 74.5 million EUR available to support local, regional and/or national civil society organisations! With a substantial increase of the budget (from 51 to 74.5 million EUR), the aim of this call is to protect, promote and raise awareness of fundamental rights and EU values.

Discover more about this call by subscribing to the ‘DG Justice Newsletter on funding opportunities & funded projects’.

A new version of the Central Online Collection System is available! Users might have already noticed improvements in the look and feel, for example, the new map of Europe with information on support numbers. As use of electronic identification (eID) is more popular than ever, users can now easily see which national eID scheme they can use.

The public voting of the ‘ImagineEU’ video competition is now open – until 28 January. Nearly 400 school teams presented, in short videos, their concrete ideas that could benefit citizens across the EU – similarly to the ECI.

Check the videos produced by the students (you can sort by topic or country) and vote for your favorite ones.

They are talking about us! The European Citizens’ Initiative was recently mentioned in several publications and reports around participatory democracy and citizenship.

The latest Eurobarometer showed that 64% of European citizens are aware of the right to participate in a European citizens’ initiative. In addition to this, the ECI was featured in the citizenship report 2023 and guide for new EU citizens.

Find us at page 10 of the guide! Discover more by clicking ‘more’.

On 6 December, we published the review of the revised European Citizens' Initiative regulation. This report highlights the benefits brought to ECI organisers and supporters through a more accessible and user-friendly framework.

Check some key facts and figures for the period since 2020 and read the full report on our website.

On 7 December, the Commission replied to Fur Free Europe, the 10th valid citizens’ initiative. Backed by over 1.5 million citizens, its organisers calledfor prohibiting the keeping and killing of animals for fur production and prohibiting the sale of fur.

As a first step the Commission has asked EFSA’s a scientific opinion (by March 2025) on the welfare of animals farmed for fur. Based on the outcome, it will communicate on next steps (proposal for a ban of fur production or alternative solutions).

The full reply is available on our website.

Wrapping up a fantastic year full of milestones! We had 4 official Commission replies to ECIs (a record!), published a review report on ECI 2020-2023, launched an educational toolkit, as well as the very first ‘ImagineEU’ video competition for schools, reached 1100 members on the ECI Facebook group and almost 140k subscribers to this newsletter!

Enough of bragging...we wish you a great holiday period, a wonderful end of the year and an even more amazing start of next year, hoping it will be as rewarding as this one.

The ECI Forum continues to directly engage with university students. ECI experts take the opportunity to discuss the potential of participatory democracy in Europe generally, and the ECI as an important tool more specifically. Over 400 students attended session organised throughout the year.

Would you like the ECI Forum to present (in English) at your university and exchange with you and other students? Contact the ECI Forum via eciforum@ecas.org

Are you still working on your application for the ‘ImagineEU’ video competition for schools? The Educational Toolkit can help you prepare for it!

You can download it from the link below – it is available in all EU official languages.

Did you miss the previous ECI Forum Webinars: ‘How to Budget Your ECI?’ and ‘Engaging with Young People in Your ECI – What You Need to Know’? Fear not! Read the key takeaways and highlights in our new blog posts summarising these webinars.