The Commission has registered today, 15 May 2020, a new citizens' initiative: Libertà di condividere (Freedom to share). The organisers now have up to 6 months to start the collection of statements of support from citizens across Europe.

The Commission has registered today, 4 March, a new citizens' initiative: 'VOTERS WITHOUT BORDERS, Full Political Rights for EU Citizens.' The organisers of the initiative now have up to 6 months to start the collection of statements of support from citizens.

The citizens' initiative 'Minority SafePack - one million signatures for diversity in Europe' has been submitted today to the Commission for examination, after having collected more than 1,1 million valid statements of support from across the EU.

The organisers will meet with the Commission soon. A public hearing will then be organised by the European Parliament. The Commission has up to 6 months to adopt a formal reply.

A new initiative 'Stop Finning - Stop the trade' was registered on 2 January 2020. This is the first initiative to follow the new rules of the European citizens' initiative that apply since 1 January.

Read the Commission’s press release on this matter.

The organisers of this initiative call on the Commission to ‘propose legal acts to phase out synthetic pesticides by 2035, to restore biodiversity, and to support farmers in the transition'. More specifically, the organisers want to ‘phase out synthetic pesticides in EU agriculture by 80% by 2030, starting with the most hazardous, to become free of synthetic by 2035; restore natural ecosystems in agricultural areas so that farming becomes a vector of biodiversity recovery; reform agriculture by prioritising small scale, diverse and sustainable farming, supporting a rapid increase in agro-ecological and organic practice, and enabling independent farmer-based training and research into pesticide- and GMO-free farming.'

Under the EU Treaties, the European Commission can take legal action in the area of the common agricultural policy and the internal market as well as measures in the veterinary and phytosanitary fields. The Commission therefore considers the initiative legally admissible and has decided to register it.

The organisers of the initiative call on the Commission ‘to strengthen action on the climate emergency in line with the 1.5° warming limit. This means more ambitious climate goals and financial support for climate action'. In particular, the initiative focuses on the need for the EU to ‘adjust its goals (NDC) under the Paris Agreement to an 80% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, to reach net-0 by 2035 and adjust European climate legislation accordingly.' The initiative also refers to the implementation of an EU Border Carbon Adjustment, free trade agreements with partner countries based on Climate Action Tracker and free educational materials on the effects of climate change.

Under the EU Treaties, the European Commission can take legal action with the aim of preserving, protecting and improving the quality of the environment as well as in the area of the common commercial policy. The Commission therefore considers the initiative legally admissible and has decided to register it.

The organisers of the initiative call on the Commission to ‘mandate a firm 10 year post accession deadline for an automatic moratorium on payments of structural and cohesion funds to a newly acceded country, until the monitoring mechanism is lifted from their judiciary.' They state that ‘the current EU legal code allows undue interpretation. Under certain conditions, the corruption among political elites in newly acceded countries may turn out to be beneficial to other countries in the Union, and the relative notion ‘temporary' to be stretched out indefinitely. Setting a strict timeframe avoids direct and indirect motivation for corruption in EU Member States. […]'

Under the EU Treaties, the European Commission can take legal action when it comes to financial rules relating to the EU budget. The Commission therefore considers the initiative legally admissible and has decided to register it.

Today the European Commission decided to register 3 new European citizens' initiatives: ‘Stop corruption in Europe at its root, by cutting off funds to countries with inefficient judiciary after deadline', ‘Actions on Climate Emergency' and ‘Save bees and farmers! Towards a bee-friendly agriculture for a healthy environment.' The Commission also decided not to register a proposed European citizens' initiative entitled ‘Ensuring Common Commercial Policy conformity with EU Treaties and compliance with international law' as the actions requested manifestly fall outside the Commission's powers to act according to the EU Treaties.

'Let's put an end to the era of plastic in Europe'

The organisers of this initiative 'call on the European Commission to revise the Directive on the impact of certain plastics on the environment with the aim of banning all single-use plastics in Europe'. The initiative aims to ban 'all plastic packaging and bottles by 2027 so that concrete measures can begin to be put in place to respect the limits of our resources.'

Under the EU Treaties, the European Commission can take legal action with an aim of preserving, protecting and improving the quality of the environment. The Commission therefore considers the initiative legally admissible and has decided to register it.

The organisers of the initiative state that Directive 2001/18/EC on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) is ‘outdated' and ask for a revision of its rules concerning new plant breeding techniques (NPBT), with the objective of facilitating 'the authorisation procedure for those products obtained through NPBTs'.

Under the EU Treaties, the European Commission can take legal action in the area of the internal market and product authorisations. The Commission therefore considers the initiative legally admissible and has decided to register it.