The European Citizens’ Initiative has proved to be an effective tool for increasing citizens’ participation in the political life of the EU. But it must be reinforced to counter the risk of the EU institutions becoming detached from ordinary Europeans.

The European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) is an EU participatory mechanism designed to strengthen direct democracy by allowing at least one million EU citizens (with a specified minimum number of nationals from at least seven Member States) to ask the European Commission to propose an act in an area where Member States have transferred powers to the EU level.

Since 2012, when ECIs were launched, the European Commission has registered 119 initiatives, and their organisers have collected around 20 million signatures. So far, 11 initiatives have been validated as successful and 10 of them have already received a response from the Commission.

The ECI Day, held every year by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), is an important forum and platform where registered and future ECI organisers and stakeholders can exchange information and experiences and present their ECI and activities to the public.

This year, the ECI Day was held as part of Civil Society Week on 18 March.

‘The EU should take further steps towards participatory democracy to complement its representative form. The ECI is the very first participatory democracy tool at transnational level,’ said Laurenţiu Plosceanu, EESC Vice-President for Communication.

According to the European Ombudsman, Teresa Anjinho, the ECI is a powerful tool, but it has not lived up to its potential. ‘We have to improve communication on its purposes and functions. Awareness-raising campaigns must be stepped up so that people are fully informed about what an ECI can and cannot do, and take action. To preserve the ECI as a meaningful tool requires transparency, honesty and communication. If we fail, we will also be failing to maintain trust in this tool as well as in the future of our Union,’ said Ms Anjinho.

During the ECI Day event, nine ECI initiatives were presented, including those concerning access to water, food security, abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, protecting existing buildings from demolition, videogame heritage protection, a new model to reduce emissions through Air-Quotas, and new health standards for the medical use of psychedelics.

Responding to calls to secure funding for ECI initiatives, Adriana Mungiu, head of the ECI team at the Commission’s Secretariat-General, urged activists not to wait for new and rather distant budgetary solutions dedicated only to ECIs. Instead, they should make greater use of the funds available in the current EU budget, including in the chapters on ‘Citizens’ Participation’. (at)