On 3 December 2025 the European Commission registered a European citizens' initiative entitled 'No more double standards on human rights'.
It calls for establishing a standardised oversight of human rights across the Commission's areas of competence in its external action with third countries’.
The initiative organisers have six months to open the signature collection.
On 2 December, the European Parliament will hold a public hearing on the twelfth successful European Citizens’ Initiative 'My Voice, My Choice: For Safe And Accessible Abortion'. The organisers have been invited to present the initiative's objectives and engage with Members of the European Parliament. Hadja Lahbib, the Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, will represent the European Commission in this hearing.
On 18 December, Members of the European Parliament will debate the initiative during the plenary session, with the participation of the European Commission.
Both meetings are web streamed and recorded.
On 25 November 2025 the Commission registered two European citizens' initiatives:
The initiative organisers have six months to open the signature collection.
On 17 November 2025, the European citizens' initiative ‘Ban on conversion practices in the European Union' was submitted to the European Commission, making it the 13th successful initiative that will be examined by the Commission.
The initiative has gathered 1,128,063 verified statements of support from EU citizens, surpassing the required minimum of one million valid statements of support, and reached thresholds in 11 Member States.
The organisers of the initiative call on the Commission to propose a binding legal ban on conversion practices targeting LGBTQ+ citizens in the European Union.
The Commission has until 18 May 2026 to present its official reply, outlining the actions it intends to take, if any. See what happens in the meantime: Step-by-Step.
At this year’s Public Affairs Summit in Brussels, the workshop “Empowering Citizens: Enhancing Engagement for a Resilient EU Future” will look at how citizens can play a stronger role in shaping EU decisions, including with the European citizens’ initiative. Speakers include David Knight, Policy Assistant in Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič’s team and Elisa Lironi, Deputy Executive Director at ECAS.
Thursday 6 November 2025, 12:00 (CET)
In line with Article 15 of the ECI Regulation, the organisers of the twelfth successful European citizens’ initiative ‘My Voice, My Choice: For Safe And Accessible Abortion' were given the opportunity to explain the objectives of their initiative in detail. They were received on 1 October 2025 by Commissioner for Equality Hadja Lahbib and European Commission officials.
On 29 September, the Commission had to refuse the registration of the ‘Ethical selection of European representatives’ initiative. The initiative did not fulfil the formal conditions established in the ECI Regulation.
This is the second refusal since the new ECI Regulation started applying in January 2020.
The European Commission published today its response to the European citizens' initiative Cohesion policy for the equality of the regions and sustainability of the regional cultures, the eleventh successful initiative supported by over 1 million citizens across the EU. The initiative collected over 1.2 million valid signatures and reached required thresholds in 8 Member States.
Read the Commission communication.
On 1 September 2025, the European citizens' initiative ‘My Voice, My Choice: For Safe And Accessible Abortion' was submitted to the European Commission, making it the 12th successful initiative that will be examined by the Commission. The initiative has obtained 1,124,513 valid statements of support from EU citizens, surpassing the required minimum of one million valid statements of support and reaching thresholds in 19 Member States.
The organisers of the initiative call on the Commission to submit a proposal for financial support to Member States that would enable them to perform safe termination of pregnancies for anyone in Europe who lacks access to safe and legal abortion.
The Commission has until 2 March 2026 to present its official reply, outlining the actions it intends to take, if any. The Commission will meet the organisers to discuss the initiative in detail in the coming weeks. A public hearing will then be organised by the European Parliament.
In its reply to the ‘Fur Free Europe’ initiative, presented in December 2023, the Commission tasked the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to provide a scientific opinion on the welfare of animals farmed for fur. The EFSA opinion was published on 30 July 2025. Building further on this scientific input, and on an assessment of economic and social impacts, the Commission will communicate on the most appropriate follow-up action on the initiative by March 2026.
