The European Commission has today registered a European Citizens Initiative (ECI), entitled 'Mum, Dad & Kids - European Citizens' Initiative to protect Marriage and Family', inviting the Commission to propose legislation that defines the meaning of marriage as a union between a man and a woman and of family as based on marriage and/or descent for the purpose of EU law. This registration starts a one-year process of collection of signatures in support of the proposed ECI by its organisers.

The Commission's decision to register concerns only the legal admissibility of the proposal. The conditions for admissibility, as foreseen by the ECI Regulation, are that the proposed action does not manifestly fall outside the framework of the Commission's powers to submit a proposal for a legal act, that it is not manifestly abusive, frivolous or vexatious and that it is not manifestly contrary to the values of the Union.

The College of Commissioners discussed the legal admissibility of the proposed ECI and concluded that the legal conditions for the registration of the ECI were fulfilled. The College has not analysed the substance of the initiative at this stage.

The European Commission has today registered a European Citizens Initiative (ECI), entitled 'Wake up Europe ! Agir pour préserver le projet démocratique européen', inviting the Commission to propose to trigger Article 7 of the Treaty for alleged breaches of the EU's fundamental values by Hungary.

The Commission's decision to register concerns only the legal admissibility of the proposal. The conditions for admissibility, as foreseen by the ECI Regulation, are that the proposed action does not manifestly fall outside the framework of the Commission's powers to submit a proposal for a legal act, that it is not manifestly abusive, frivolous or vexatious and that it is not manifestly contrary to the values of the Union.

The College of Commissioners discussed the legal admissibility of the proposed ECI and concluded that the legal conditions for the registration of the ECI were fulfilled. The College has not analysed the substance of the initiative at this stage.

General court ruling concerning ECI 'One million signatures for “a Europe of solidarity'

The European Commission has adopted the Communication in response to the third successful European Citizens' Initiative, "Stop vivisection".

The organisers of the Stop Vivisection initiative met today with European Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen, responsible for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness and Director-General Karl Falkenberg, responsible for DG Environment.

The European Commission has adopted the Communication in response to the second successful European Citizens' Initiative, "One of Us".

European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn today met with representatives of the organising committee of the European Citizens' Initiative "One of Us". The meeting was also attended by the Director General for Research and Innovation, Robert-Jan Smits, and by Deputy Director General for Development and Cooperation, Marcus Cornaro, on behalf of the European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs.

Following the meeting, Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn and Commissioner Piebalgs made the following statement:

"This is the second European Citizens' Initiative that has collected the required number of signatures to earn the right to put their ideas forward. We at the European Commission intend to give this ECI all due attention, and the meeting today was very useful in this regard. The Commission is very much in listening mode, and that will continue tomorrow in the public hearing in the European Parliament. The Commission will then by 28 May present its Communication in response to the ECI."

The European Commission has adopted the Communication in response to the first successful European Citizens' Initiative, '"Right2Water"'.

The Commission has officially received the second successful European Citizens' Initiative (ECI), with properly validated support from at least one million European citizens in at least seven Member States. Support for the 'One of us' ECI, whose organisers call on the EU to 'establish a ban and end the financing of activities which presuppose the destruction of human embryos, in particular in the areas of research, development aid and public health', has been checked and validated by the national authorities of the Member States.

Support for the initiative outstrips support for the first successful ECI, 'Right2Water', both in the number of Member States where a minimum threshold of support was reached, and in the total statements of support. Support crossed the minimum threshold in 18 Member States (Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Spain). Overall, the ECI received 1,721,626 validated statements of support.

The ball is now in the Commission's court. Within the next three months, it must invite the organisers to Brussels to explain their ideas in more depth, and a public hearing will be arranged in the European Parliament. Then the Commission must decide whether it will act by adopting legislation, act in some other way to achieve the goals of the ECI, or not act at all. Whichever route is taken, the Commission must explain its reasoning through a Communication adopted by the whole College of Commissioners.

Organisers of the first eight European Citizens' Initiatives (ECIs) arrived at the end of their period for collecting statements of support. Three ECIs claim to have reached the target of one million signatures. This includes a minimum number of signatures in at least seven Member States, as required by the ECI legislation. They include "Right2Water", who believe 'water is a public good, not a commodity', "One of Us", who seek to end EU financing of activities which presuppose the destruction of human embryos, and "Stop Vivisection", who want to see an end to live animal experimentation.

Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič said: "I am greatly encouraged by the fact that three such diverse ECIs may have passed the threshold of success. It proves that this very ambitious and unique experiment in transnational participatory democracy has captured the imagination of people across Europe.

"I offer my commiserations to the organisers of the other five ECIs. But their efforts and energy were certainly not wasted. They have all succeeded in forging links with like-minded people across the continent, and sparking genuine pan-European debates on issues that are clearly very important to them. These are solid foundations on which they can continue to campaign."