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On 20 September 2023, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) hosted a debate in its plenary session on the European citizens' initiative "Fur Free Europe". The initiative was presented by its representative, Elise Fleury, and discussed with Tilly Metz, Member of the European Parliament and President of the Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals and EESC members.

On 16 August the Commission registered a European citizens' initiative entitled 'Preservation and development of Ukrainian culture, education, language, and traditions in EU states'. It calls on the Commission to step up its actions in supporting the integration of Ukrainian refugees in the EU.

This is the seventh initiative registered in 2023. Its organisers have six months now to choose the date for starting the collection of support.

The European Commission published today its response to the European citizens' initiative  ‘Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics - Commit to a Europe Without Animal Testing’, the nineth successful initiative supported by over 1 million citizens across the EU. The initiative collected over 1.2 million valid signatures in 21 Member States.

Read the Commission communication.

On 20 July 2023, the organisers of the tenth successful European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Fur Free Europe’  met with Vera Jourová, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Values and Transparency, and Stella Kyriakides, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, to present the objectives of their initiative in more depth. 

On 11 July the Commission registered a European citizens' initiative entitled Taxing great wealth to finance the ecological and social transition. It calls on the Commission to establish a European tax on great wealth for the benefit of the ecological and social transition.

This is the sixth initiative registered in 2023. Its organisers have six months now to choose the moment to start the collection of support.

The European Commission published today its response to the European citizens' initiative ‘Stop Finning - Stop the Trade', the eighth successful initiative supported by over 1 million citizens across the EU.

Read the Commission communication.

Members of the European Parliament will debate on the ninth successful European citizens’ initiative ‘Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics - Commit To A Europe Without Animal Testing’ in the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, on Monday 10 July evening.

The plenary session is webstreamed and recorded.

The new episode of CitizenCentral podcast, “What impact do European citizens’ initiatives have?” features examples of three successful initiatives: ‘Ban glyphosate’ [Ban glyphosate and protect people and the environment from toxic pesticides], ‘End the Cage Age’, and ‘Right2Water’ [Water and sanitation are a human right! Water is a public good, not a commodity!].  

Tune in and discover CitizenCentral (in English only) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, & SoundCloud.  

On 13 June the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the implementation of the regulations on the European citizens' initiative. The resolution aims to contribute to the upcoming Commission review of the ECI. The resolution acknowledges that the revised ECI Regulation has substantially improved the ECI and recommends a number of actions to further improve the ECI as a unique cross-border tool for participatory democracy.

The ‘Fur Free Europe’ initiative  has reached a record number of 1,502,319 validated statements of support from EU citizens, with thresholds attained in 18 countries. This makes it the 10th successful initiative submitted to the European Commission. The initiative was submitted on 14 June 2023.

The initiative calls on the Commission to introduce an EU-wide ban on keeping and killing animals for the purpose of fur production, as well as for placing farmed animal fur and products containing such fur on the EU market.

The Commission has until 14 December 2023 to present its official reply, outlining the actions it intends to take. The Commission will meet the organisers to discuss the initiative in detail in the next weeks. A public hearing will then be organised by the European Parliament.