European Citizens' Initiative Day 2022

Dear Vice President Šuica,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my great pleasure to welcome you to this European Citizens' Initiative Day, on behalf of the European Economic and Social Committee and its partners:

- the European Committee of the Regions,
- Democracy International,
- the European Citizen Action Service,
- the ECI Campaign, and
- Bertelsmann Stiftung. 

I am glad that we can again meet in person, after last year’s fully online edition. And I am also glad to welcome all those of you who could not come to Brussels, but who join us in this event online to follow and participate in today's discussions.

Today we mark a special edition of the ECI Day. We are celebrating 10 years of the European Citizens' Initiative, this still unique transnational participatory tool. 10 years is a long period: we have definitely gained some experience. But it is also very short: we still have to learn, improve and make sure the ECI gets a place it deserves in the EU institutional process. The discussions in the context of the Conference on the Future of Europe showed by the way that citizens are not enough aware about the participatory tools, including the ECI.

A decade ago, when it was launched on 1st April 2012, it had been already long awaited. First included in the European Constitution, the ECI was then preserved in the Lisbon Treaty and a few years were necessary for the EP and Council to adopt the rules and make it operational. Meanwhile, the new tool had generated a lot of hope for citizens to finally have a direct say in EU policy-making.

Many pioneers decided to give it a try: a dozen initiatives were submitted for registration to the Commission already on the first day. But they quickly faced many hurdles: The registration process, during which the Commission checks whether the initiative falls within its competences, was a major challenge for organisers. While the rules allow the collection of signatures online, which was very innovative 10 years ago, in practice, organisers could not afford the high costs of the required system. Organisers had to translate themselves the content of their initiative and they had to use 13 different versions of the form to support their initiative, depending on the country.

These are only some of the difficulties encountered by the organisers at the time. The disappointment was even bigger for the first ones who succeeded in reaching the one million- signature milestone, and whom the Commission's reply failed to convince. Very quickly the European Economic and Social Committee decided to provide support to the organisers of initiatives, and prevent the tool from simply being abandoned. I am proud that the Committee, as the house of civil society, was the first to invite initiative organisers to its plenary sessions. The Committee also provided organisers with the translation of their initiatives into all EU languages. This is an absolute must to campaign throughout the EU.

Complementing these efforts, the Committee decided to organize this annual event, the ECI Day, to ensure that the ECI remains high on the institutional agenda of the EU. Last but not least, the EESC adopted several opinions on the ECI, calling for a revision of the rules, and making the tool more accessible and more impactful. The revision of the rules announced by then Commission First Vice-President Timmermans at the ECI Day 5 years ago was therefore more than welcome.

I am happy to say that many of the recommendations made by the EESC have been taken on board in the new ECI Regulation that came into effect in 2020 and I would like to thank the Commission for our cooperation regarding the ECI. The new rules, together with the reinforced promotion of the instrument and the ECI Forum, have certainly given a new impetus to the tool.

Unfortunately, the pandemic made it extremely challenging for organisers to campaign in the past two years. The dialogue and debate around those initiatives that manage to collect one million signatures have also improved over time, notably with the adoption of resolutions by the European Parliament and some national parliaments.

I am delighted to share with you the latest EESC news. In its recent plenary, the Committee Members decided to further contribute to this debate by adopting own-initiative opinions on relevant initiatives, before the Commission’s reply.

Last year, our ECI Day focused on the need to increase the impact of initiatives on policy-making. In this respect, it is good news for the instrument that the latest successful initiative, “End the cage age”, received a clear and positive answer from the European Commission.

Three other initiatives are in the verification process and could therefore be submitted to the Commission in the coming months. 17 initiatives are currently collecting signatures across the EU. This shows the dynamism of the European Citizens´ Initiative as a tool and more generally of civil society, which is crucial to mobilise so many people.

This year, we are also celebrating the European Year of Youth, thus we cannot miss the opportunity to focus on youth participation. Among the organisers of the initiatives, many are young people, students or young professionals. In fact, since the launch of the Initiative, young people have been the most highly represented age group among initiators. However, the same cannot be said for successful initiatives. Young people are enthusiastic about the tool but they often face serious challenges when it comes to collecting the necessary signatures. We need to support them better in this process and give them more chances to succeed.

Young people do not feel represented by politicians and their lack of participation in elections is particularly worrying. We need to reconnect our youth with our democratic institutions. They need to engage in political processes, to have their say on the policies that ultimately impact their generation. There is no doubt that the European Citizens´ Initiative is a tool which can significantly contribute to these efforts. Today’s event is thus not only an opportunity to look back at the past 10 years but also to look ahead and make sure future generations have a strong tool to make their voices heard on EU policies.

Dear Commissioner Šuica, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining the European Economic and Social Committee today to discuss the European Citizens´ Initiative of tomorrow!