The European Citizens’ Initiative: Bridging the democratic gap?
Anna Sonny, 5 April 2012
By Anna Sonny
Sunday 1st April saw the official launch of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) website. Introduced by the Lisbon Treaty, this new instrument enables citizens of EU member states to petition the European Commission for new legislation or for amendments to existing rules. The EU has frequently been criticised for the undemocratic nature of its institutions; with this measure, European citizens could have a direct influence on the legislative decisions of the EU for the first time since its establishment.
The EU’s democratic deficit is a paradox that sits rather uneasily within the structures of a body that is founded on the value of democracy. The roles of the Commission and the European Parliament are shining examples of the contradiction between this founding value and the EU’s practical functions. The Commission, run by unelected Commissioners, is the only EU institution that holds the power to propose laws, while the European Parliament is powerless to initiate legislation, despite being the only directly elected institution in the EU. The ECI aims to redress this imbalance by giving the electorate a voice in the legislation-making arena.
However, the process is still relatively complicated. In order to request new legislation, citizens must register an initiative via the ECI website. This involves forming a “citizens’ committee”, compromising of at least seven people from at least seven different member states. Once registered and checked by the Commission for adherence to EU values and laws, the initiative must then collect over 1 million signatures, including a minimum number of signatures from each member state, within 12 months. The minimum amount of signatures required is equal to the number of MEPs in each country multiplied by 750. Britain, for example, having 73 MEPs, requires at least 54,750 signatures. These signatures must be verified by the national authorities in the corresponding countries, and are then submitted to the Commission, who has 3 months to examine the initiative and meet the citizens’ committee in order to understand the initiative in more depth. The committee will also have the opportunity to present their initiative to the European Parliament at a public hearing.
Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic has heralded the ECI as an “unprecedented expansion in participatory democracy.” Others, however, are doubtful about how effective the initiative will be, since it will still be the Commission who decides whether to act upon the requests or not. There is also the risk that the potential for citizens to make their voices heard may be eclipsed by already powerful organizations and lobbying groups using the website.
At a social level, the site has the potential to enhance the sentiment of shared EU citizenship; the act of forming citizens’ committees and gathering signatures across member state borders could help to stimulate supranational debates and make European citizens more aware of the issues affecting them. Supporters of the initiative also say it will improve the transparency of EU decision-making on the political stage. Many important political and economic decisions in the EU, such as the setting of inflation targets and interest rates by the European Central Bank, are currently made without democratic consultation; it is hoped that this website will give European citizens the chance to directly affect European decision-making. The Commission has long held the legislative monopoly in the EU arena; through the ECI it will now be accountable to the European electorate.