Guide
Guide to the European citizens’ initiative
What to be aware of
The European citizens’ initiative gives you the opportunity to have a greater say in EU policy making. It encourages debate on issues close to your heart and raises awareness of common concerns.
What it will mean for you:
- you call on the European Commission to propose new EU legislation that will further your cause – provided it is in an area where the EU has the power to act.
- after having registered your initiative and collecting at least 1 million signatures on paper and online in at least 7 EU countries, you and others across the EU submit it to the Commission
- you then meet with the Commission to discuss your objectives.
After examining your proposal, the Commission replies on actions it intends to take, if any.
When dealing with a European citizens’ initiative, you need to follow a set of procedures. The lifecycle of a citizens’ initiative can last months and possibly years!
Preparation is key. To help you do so:
- this website provides details of the whole process
- the European Citizens’ Initiative Forum provides guidance and advice on the legal and practical aspects of managing an initiative, including:
- how to draft an initiative
- how to team up with others and create a group of organisers
- how to collect signatures…
You should also know that, as an organiser, you will be able to use for free the Central Online Collection System run by the European Commission for collecting statements of support online. This system can be quickly set up for your initiative and ensures full compliance with the data protection legislation.
Launch your initiative
Once you’ve set up your group, drafted your initiative and gathered all the necessary information, you need to submit a registration request.
To do so, the Representative of your group of organisers needs to set up an Organiser account with his/her email address (which will be visible on this website once the initiative is registered) and fill in the required fields.
Note: The first step of setting up an organiser account is creating an EU-login account. See in this page how to associate pair your mobile phone to with your EU-login account to ensure a strong two-factor authentication.
