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.

The 4-unit learning toolkit has been created as an optional classroom activity for pupils in the last two years of secondary education. Its aim is to equip students with the knowledge and skills that will allow them to be active and engaged EU citizens. As part of this exploration, the toolkit focuses on the European Citizens’ Initiative. 

Through instruction, research, debate, project work, and role play, pupils learn about how the EU has evolved over time, how EU institutions make laws, how these laws affect their everyday lives and how the European Citizens' Initiative allows EU citizens to join with others to shape EU policy on issues that they care about.  

Now available: the new episode of CitizenCentral podcast, which puts a spotlight on the European citizens’ initiatives.

In this episode we speak about on-going efforts to make the ECI common European knowledge – starting with high school students. The ‘EU Democracy in Action – Have Your Say with the European Citizens’ Initiative’ Toolkit was developed by the European Commission and piloted in secondary schools in early 2023.

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

On 31 May the Commission registered a European citizens' initiative entitled ‘Effective  implementation of the concept of judicial precedent in EU countries’.

It calls on the Commission to introduce a mechanism guaranteeing mutual recognition of final judicial decisions adopted by courts of other Member States and which grants the option of invoking national judicial precedents decided by the courts of the country concerned. The mechanism would apply to cases which concern similar legal questions for which the Court already had the opportunity to interpret the applicable provisions of Union law.

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

The ECI Day 2023, organised by the European Economic and Social Committee and its partners, will focus on the skills that organisers need to make their initiative a success – in relation to the European Year of Skills. The conference will be attended by the Vice-President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency Věra Jourová.

The 'EU Democracy in Action - Have Your Say with the European Citizens' Initiative' toolkit for schools, developed by the Commission, will be officially launched at the event.

The event will be hybrid, with participation in person in Brussels or online. Registration is open until 4 June.

The European Parliament will hold a public hearing on the ninth successful European Citizens’ Initiative “Save cruelty free cosmetics - commit to a Europe without animal testing” on 25 May 2023 from 9.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m. The organisers will present the initiative's objectives and engage with Members of the European Parliament. European Commission's representatives will also participate.

The meeting is webstreamed and recorded.

Thanks to an amendment to the national provisions on European citizens’ initiative, applying as of 1 May 2023, Belgian citizens can support European citizens’ initiatives from age 16.

There are altogether six countries where it is possible to support ECIs below age 18.

On 18 April the Commission registered a European citizens' initiative entitled ‘Connecting all European capitals and people through a high-speed train network’.  

It calls for connecting all European capitals through high-speed railway lines by linking the existing high-speed railway networks and by building high-speed lines where these do not yet exist.

This is the fourth citizens initiative registered in 2023, and overall 100th, marking an important milestone since the introduction of the tool in 2012.

The European Commission published today its response to the European citizens' initiative ‘Save bees and farmers! Towards a bee-friendly agriculture for a healthy environment', the seventh successful initiative supported by over 1 million citizens across the EU.

Read the Commission communication. 

The European Parliament will hold a public hearing on the eighth successful European Citizens’ Initiative Stop Finning – Stop the trade on 27 March from 3.00 to 6.00 p.m. The organisers will present the initiative's objectives and engage with Members of the European Parliament. European Commission's representatives will also participate.

The meeting is webstreamed and recorded.