European Citizens’ Initiative

On 27 October the European Commission decided to register another European citizens’ initiative – titled ‘Call to Action: Environmental protection in all policies’. Organisers are asking the Commission to propose a legal act which would assure Europeans that their national authorities are taking into account environmental considerations when introducing new or amending existing policies. This is the 10th citizens’ initiative registered in 2021. Organisers now have 6 months to open the signature collection. Learn more in the press release.

On 7 October, the Commission registered the citizens’ initiative ‘Stop (((5G))) - Stay Connected but Protected’. Through this European citizens’ initiative, organisers are urging for legislation to better protect all forms of life from the alleged risks of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields and microwave radiation, to protect against other alleged environmental impacts of 5G and related digitalisation, and to ensure effective protection, including against cybercrime, of personal data processed with these new forms of communication technology.

Registering the initiative does not imply that the Commission in any way confirms the factual correctness of the content of the initiative. Read more in the press release.

The ‘Ban fossil Fuel Advertising and Sponsorship’ initiative opened for signature collection on 4 October. This initiative proposes to prevent advertising and sponsoring that support and promote the market for fossil fuels and for all types of vehicles using those fuels (excluding vehicles dedicated to transport services of general economic interest).

Also on 4 October, Greenpeace activists staged an action in Rotterdam port to mark the opening of the ECI signature collection.

The ‘Civil Servant Exchange Program’ (CESP) initiative opened for signature collection on 4 October. Taking inspiration from the Erasmus exchange programme, the proposal includes giving civil servants the opportunity to work in a similar field in a different Member State for 2 to 12 months.

You can learn more about this initiative in chapter 2 of the CitizenCentral podcast or in their blog article on the ECI Form (details of both found further below in this newsletter).

The Citizens, Equality Rights and Values Programme (CERV) recently opened a call for project proposals under the ‘citizen engagement’ strand. These projects aim to promote citizen engagement and participation in the democratic life of the European Union, including exchange between citizens of different Member States.

If you have an existing project running or an idea for a new project linked to transnational partnerships and networks directly involving citizens – don't miss this funding opportunity! Deadline to apply is 10 February 2022.

Funding for a European Citizens’ Initiative has many challenges, including identifying from where sources of funding come. Join the workshop on 10 November, 14:00-16:30 CET to discover how to find funds for your European citizens’ initiative, how to report donations, and to gather tips for your fundraising strategy. Register here.

Two new episodes of the CitizenCentral podcast are out! Our host speaks with organisers from the ‘Civil Servant Exchange Program’, ‘Voters Without Borders’, ‘Stop Finning – Stop the Trade’, ‘Green Garden Roof Tops’ and ‘Grow Scientific Progress: crops matter’ initiatives. We also crisscross Europe to hear from a firefighter, public administrator in Bulgaria, two marine biologists, the European Citizen Action Service and more!

Tune in and discover the podcast on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, and SoundCloud.

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, based on their reported signature collection figures. (This information will be updated and shared regularly). At the time of writing, these initiatives had reported the following level of support:

• Over 300,000:

-Stop finning, Stop the Trade

• Over 200,000:

- Save cruelty free cosmetics – commit to a Europe without animal testing

- Right to Cure

• Over 150,000:

- Start Unconditional Basic Incomes (UBI) throughout the EU

• Over 60,000:

- Ban Fossil Fuel Advertising and Sponsorships

- Civil society initiative for a ban on biometric mass surveillance practices (Reclaim your face)

If you’d like to support any of the ongoing initiatives, please visit our website.

Have you always wanted to know more about the European Citizens' Initiative and directly learn from experts? Then you should enrol in the new online course that you can find on the ECI Forum! Take the course and receive your certificate!

Partway through the signature collection period, one of the organisers of the ‘Freedom to Share’ initiative reflects on lessons learned in this blog post. From developing their own open-source signature collection platform to building a network of partner organisations, Gregory has many tips to share. You can also watch a short video clip of Gregory and other initiative organisers at the bottom of the article.

Meet one of the initiatives which opened for signature collection in October. Initiated by 9 Masters students, this article gives a peak into the organisers’ goals and motivations. They write: ‘The civil service is one of the largest sectors of employment in each of the EU Member States. However, it offers very few opportunities to work in an international environment. […] ’

You can also listen to Adam Mazoyer explain more about the Civil Servant Exchange Program in the second episode of our CitizenCentral podcast.

The latest webinar on the ECI Forum covered the topic of signature collection. You missed it? No problem at all. A summary and the recording are now available here.

What do you think about recycling or weighing factors on greenhouse gases? Join your fellow European citizens and enter the debate in the "Discuss section" of the ECI Forum. Have something else in mind? No problem, share your ideas here.

Do you know that there’s a national contact point for the ECI in each country? They are there to help provide information and answer your questions, in particular on those aspects of the ECI Regulation that fall under the competence of national authorities. Find the full list of contact points here.

Check out our extensive FAQ page to learn more about the European Citizens’ Initiative. And hop on over to the ECI Forum – a peer-to-peer space to exchange ideas and help citizens’ initiatives succeed.