Curious to learn more about the process and practice of developing a successful European citizens’ initiative?
Check out the new and improved online course: Essential Skills for European Citizens' Initiative Organisers (click more below). This interactive online course gives participants the opportunity to learn under the guidance of experts in the field.
Summer survey! If you’re a civil society representative, we want to know your organisation’s perspectives about the European Citizens’ Initiative. We only need 5 minutes of your time. Click ‘more’ below.
With 7 episodes released in season 1 and production for season 2 kicking off, we invite you to share your views on the 'CitizenCentral' podcast. This survey takes approximately 8-10 minutes and is open until 15 July – click more below.
Mark your calendars for two more opportunities to meet the ECI in person this summer! Currently confirmed opportunities include:
More information will be added to the ECI website in due time.
The 2022 edition of the ECI Day, organised by the European Economic and Social Committee and its partners on 2 June, focused on the theme "European Citizens' Initiative 10 years on: ready for the future?".
The workshop on the Central Online Collection System (COCS) allowed to present new features of the COCS and to collect feedback from users and stakeholders for the continuous improvement of the system. The workshop on 'Successful initiatives: when NGOs across the EU unite for a common cause' gave several insights into civil society's engagement with the ECI.
Read more in the conclusions prepared by the European Economic and Social Committee, or watch the full recording.
The organisers of European citizens’ initiatives are obliged to inform the European Commission of the number of collected statements of support (both online and on paper) at least every two months. This information is then made visible on our website.
Congratulations to those organisers whose initiatives reached certain milestones recently:
- Save cruelty free cosmetics – commit to a Europe without animal testing
- Civil society initiative for a ban on biometric mass surveillance practices (Reclaim your face)
- Ensuring Common Commercial Policy conformity with EU Treaties and compliance with international law.
If you’d like to support any of the ongoing initiatives, please visit our website.
The Central Online Collection System has new features to improve functionality for ECI organisers. The sample social media messages have more formatting options, and the initiatives’ logos can be displayed in Facebook messages. In addition, organisers can easily download the latest metrics, find translations added in the user feedback pages and there is better guidance for citizens entering an incorrect postal code.
Finally, feedback shared in a survey by people supporting the initiatives will allow the Commission to prepare other future improvements. The majority of open initiatives use COCS, and all new initiatives registered from 1 January 2023 will be required to use it.
On 22 June the Commission made a proposal for renewed pesticides rules to meet the goal of reducing by 50% the use and risk of chemical pesticides by 2030. It drew inspiration, among others, from two European citizens’ initiatives (each with more than 1 million signatures) and citizens’ proposals at the Conference on the Future of Europe, mentioned in the proposal's foreword.
These were, on one hand, the successful 2017 ‘Ban glyphosate and protect people and the environment from toxic pesticides’ initiative with a view for a pesticide-free future, and on another, the initiative ‘Save bees and farmers! Towards a bee-friendly agriculture for a healthy environment’ (under verification of signatures by Member States authorities) aiming to phase out synthetic pesticides in EU agriculture by 2035.
Watch the recording of the press conference by clicking ‘more’.
Dear readers,
This newsletter has a new feature – automatic machine translation into 23 EU languages! Want to switch languages? Click here to select the language of your choice at the top of the page. Make sure to look for the icon similar to the picture here.
Thanks for keeping in mind this is machine-generated and a few technical bugs are still being worked out!
When you give your support for a European citizens’ initiative online, you need to fill in specific details. For many people, there are two options: you can either fill in your details manually, or you can connect through your national eID system to have the data automatically filled in.
Currently 13 Member States offer the possibility of using the eID system active nationally (for example ‘Itsme’ in Belgium and ‘CIE’ or ‘SPID’ in Italy). Completing the form automatically with eID not only saves you time, but it ensures that data is correct – reducing the possibility of human error. This is important when the 1 million+ signatures collected are verified by the national authorities before organisers can officially submit the initiative.
Learn more below.
Interested in learning how to develop a successful European Citizens’ Initiative?
Check out the newly updated online course: ‘Essential Skills for European Citizens' Initiative Organisers'.
The course provides participants with an opportunity to learn about the process and practice of developing European citizens’ initiatives in an interactive online environment, under the guidance of established experts.
Successful participants will receive a Certificate upon completion of the course.
The ECI Forum continues to directly engage with young people – in May with students at the University of Latvia. The ECI Forum discussed the potential of participatory democracy in Europe generally, and the ECI as a tool more specifically. The next exchange is with students from the University of Wroclaw (Poland).
Would you like us to make a presentation at your university and exchange with you and other students? Contact the ECI Forum via eciforum@ecas.org
Interested in knowing what EU citizens are discussing about? Join the ECI Forum and check the latest discussion threads covering topics such as the role of parliament in the digital age, migration and discrimination, unity within Europe and social policy.
Discuss with your fellow citizens by clicking more below.
The European Citizens’ Initiative helped welcome visitors to the European Commission’s Open Day on 7 May. Visitors could take a short quiz on the ECI (currently available in EN/FR/DE/NL, with more languages coming soon), look at ongoing initiatives on the homepage and ask questions to the Commissions’ team working on the ECI.
Listen to a short interview by one colleague made at the Open Day (in French).
The Commission’s headquarters was visited by over 8,000 people. In addition to learning about the EU in general (and the ECI in particular!), participants had the opportunity to interact with ‘Youth,’ ‘Green’ and ‘Digital’ thematic areas, test their knowledge with quizzes, watch live music and dance performances, and more.
Click ‘more’ to take the quiz yourself!
On 20 January the Court of Justice confirmed that the Commission was right in partially registering the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) “Minority SafePack” in 2017 (ruling of case C-899/19).
The Commission registered 9 out of the 11 proposals which the initiative was inviting the Commission to make. The Romanian government challenged this decision because it considered that the proposals were not within the competences of the Union. The General Court confirmed in 2019 that the Commission acted lawfully. That judgment was appealed by Romania. The appeal has now been dismissed by the Court of Justice.
Further details are found in the link below (in French).
