As of today, Europeans can be confident that the quality of the water they drink meets the highest standards, as new requirements from the revised Drinking Water Directive are becoming the norm across the EU. This revision responded to the first-ever successful European Citizens' Initiative, ‘Right2Water', which gathered 1.6 million signatures in support of improving access to safe drinking water for all Europeans.
On 12 January 2023 the Commission registered a European citizens' initiative entitled "Article 4: Stop torture and inhuman treatment at Europe’s borders".
It calls for for a framework for ensuring compliance with the prohibition of violence and inhuman and degrading treatments enshrined in Article 4 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in relation to the Union policies concerning border controls, asylum and immigration.
This is the first initiative registered in 2023. Its organisers have six months now to choose the moment to start the collection of support.
'Stop Finning - Stop the Trade' has reached 1,119,996 validated statements of support from EU citizens, with thresholds attained in 15 countries and was submitted to the European Commission for examination on 11 January 2023. It has become the eighth successful European Citizens' Initiative (ECI).
The initiative calls on the Commission to propose legal measures to to end the trade of shark fins in the EU including the import, export and transit of fins other than if naturally attached to the animal’s body.
The Commission will meet its organisers to discuss the initiative in detail in the next weeks. A public hearing will then be organised by the European Parliament. The Commission has until 11 July 2023 to present its official reply, outlining the actions it intends to take.
Thanks to an amendment to the national provisions on European citizens’ initiative, applying as of 1 January 2023, German citizens can support European citizens’ initiatives from age 16.
Germany is the sixth country to lower the age to support ECIs below 18.
Now available: the new episode of CitizenCentral podcast, which features organisers of European citizens’ initiatives, experts and other speakers.
In chapter 3, join us in a conversation with three European citizens’ initiative organisers, from the Netherlands, France and Denmark, presenting ‘Good Clothes, Fair Pay’, ‘Win it on the Pitch’ and ‘Stop 5G – Stay Connected but Protected’ initiatives.
Tune in and discover CitizenCentral (in English only) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts & SoundCloud.
On 25 November, the organisers of the ‘Save bees and farmers! Towards a bee-friendly agriculture for a healthy environment' initiative met with Vice-President for Values and Transparency Věra Jourová and Commissioner for Health & Food Safety Stella Kyriakides, to present their ideas in more depth.
On 22 November 2022 the Commission registered a European citizens' initiative entitled ‘European Day of ‘Whatever it Takes”’.
It calls for the institutionalisation of the European Day of “Whatever it Takes” in reference to the statement made by the former President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi on 26 July 2012, as a ‘symbolic act of pan-Europeanism’.
This is the 10th initiative registered in 2022. Its organisers have six months now to choose the moment to start the collection of support.
On 9 November, the General Court confirmed the Commission communication which stated that no further legislation was necessary at that stage to achieve the objectives sought by the ECI ‘Minority SafePack – one million signatures for diversity in Europe’. It dismissed the applicant’s (the ECI organisers' group) action for annulment of that communication.
The Court holds that the actions already taken by the European Union to emphasise the importance of regional or minority languages and to promote cultural and linguistic diversity is sufficient to achieve the objectives of that initiative.
The Court finds that the Commission complied with its obligations to state reasons with regard to the contested communication. It also confirmed that the Commission did not commit any manifest error of assessment as regards the examination of the proposals of this ECI.
On 18 October 2022 the Commission registered a European citizens' initiative entitled 'European citizens' initiative for vegan meal'.
It calls on the Commission to present a proposal of a law requiring to explicitly make the vegan alternative always present in the private and public spaces selling food and drinks in Europe.
This is the 95th initiative registered since 2012. Its organisers have six months now to choose the moment to start the collection of support.
'Save bees and farmers! Towards a bee-friendly agriculture for a healthy environment' has become the seventh successful European Citizens' Initiative (ECI). It has reached 1,054,973 validated statements of support from EU citizens, with thresholds attained in 11 countries.
The initiative calls on the Commission to propose legal measures to phase out synthetic pesticides by 2035, to restore biodiversity and to support farmers in this transition.
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 Commission has until 7 April 2023 to present its official reply, outlining the actions it intends to take.
Check the upcoming events related to the European Citizens’ Initiative. You can also see the list of past events; for some, recordings are available.
