The European Commission has today decided to register a European Citizens' Initiative inviting the Commission "to recommend to the Council to repeal the negotiating mandate for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and not to conclude the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)" ('STOP TTIP' Initiative). The formal registration of this Initiative on 10 July 2017 will start a one-year process of collection of signatures of support by its organisers.
This registration follows an initial Commission Decision to refuse to register the 'Stop TTIP' Initiative on 10 September 2014, which was annulled by the General Court of the European Union on 10 May 2017. The Commission has decided not to appeal the judgment.
The Commission has reassessed the proposed Initiative, which was originally submitted in July 2014, and decided to register it. However, the request for a proposal not to sign CETA has now become devoid of purpose, since it was signed on 30 October 2016. Signatures of support for this Citizens' Initiative may therefore be collected on the understanding that they aim for other legal acts.
The Commission's decision to register the Initiative concerns only the legal admissibility of the proposal. The Commission has not analysed the substance at this stage.
