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Forum Member
 
Group: Administrators
Last Login: 01/06/2010 11:16:22
Posts: 37,
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The European Commission is launching a wide public consultation to help to define the practical details of the Citizens' Initiative foreseen in the Lisbon Treaty. The Citizens' Initiative will enable one million citizens to request the Commission to bring forward a particular policy proposal.
The participation of the citizens in decision-making is indispensable for democracy", said Margot Wallström, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Inter-institutional Relations and Communication Strategy. "The Lisbon Treaty will provide a means for people to express themselves and to have a direct influence on EU policy-making."
Introduced by the Lisbon Treaty, the Citizens' Initiative enables one million citizens who are nationals of a significant number of Member States to directly request that the Commission brings forward an initiative of interest to them in an area of EU competence.
The Green Paper published today identifies practical questions regarding how the Initiative can best work in practice. Questions such as the number of countries from which people must come, how to check that signatures are real, what form a petition should take, time limits etc.
All input is welcome and can be given by responding to the Green Paper which is available in all 23 official languages on the website:
http://europa.eu/documentation/official-docs/green-papers/index_en.htm
The deadline for reply is the end of January 2010. After this date, the European Commission will put forward a proposal for a regulation to be adopted by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers.
For further information: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/secretariat_general/citizens_initiative/index_en.htm
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Junior Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 12/11/2009 12:32:00
Posts: 15,
Visits: 56
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| I didn't even know that this was contained in the Lisbon Treaty. Seems like a good idea however I can imagine it been tricky to implement.
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Junior Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 06/07/2010 02:04:44
Posts: 11,
Visits: 159
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| Admin you should look at the web addresses here and make them work as links, thanks.
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Forum Member
Group: Administrators
Last Login: 01/06/2010 11:16:22
Posts: 37,
Visits: 98
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dublinjohnf (13/11/2009)
Admin you should look at the web addresses here and make them work as links, thanks.
Done. Thanks for the suggestion.
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Junior Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 02/02/2010 12:55:02
Posts: 11,
Visits: 27
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It will be interesting to see how this actually works.
Indications about how the process have been emerging.
A minimum number of member states whose citizens have sign for the petition to be valid could be set at 9.
Also, there has been talk about at least (x) many people from a member state must sign the petition for the signatures from that country to be counted. The number from each member state could be in proportion to their populations.
Also, the petition only applies to areas in which the EU has power. So, that cancels out an awful lot of changes that people would like.
Furthermore, the Commission is under no obligation to take up the proposal set out by the 1 millions signatures. They must examine it, and if they decide to reject it, provide a valid reason.
Rejecting a petition would need a damn good excuse and would really annoy a lot of people..at least a million people anyway.
For the Citizens Initiative to be effective, it would require a strong pan European effort with the involvement of NGO's, civil society groups, legal experts to effectively communicate and give weight to the 1 million signatures.
Will probably be sometime next year before the framework is in place. Should be interesting to see what comes of this .
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Forum Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 26/07/2010 12:06:29
Posts: 28,
Visits: 75
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| It is impossible for citizens because they do not have the money. Just finding out how it works would cost lots of money.
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