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."

Following certification of their online collection system (OCS) by the Luxembourg authorities, Fraternité 2020 has become the first European Citizens' Initiative to start collecting statements of support on the European Commission's own servers. Fraternité 2020 wants to "enhance EU exchange programmes – like Erasmus or the European Voluntary Service – in order to contribute to a united Europe based on solidarity among citizens", and was the first ECI to be registered by the Commission.

The Commission made the offer to host ECIs on its own servers in July, as a radical response to issues reported by some organisers in finding suitable hosting solutions and setting up their OCS systems. It also pledged to help organisers interested in using this service to have their OCS systems certified so that they could start collecting statements of support as soon as possible.

Since then, the Commission has worked closely with organisers and the Ministère de la Fonction publique et de la Réforme administrative - Centre des technologies de l'information de l'Etat (CTIE) in Luxembourg. The CTIE is the designated certification authority in Luxembourg, where the Commission's servers are located.

Vice-President Šefčovič said: "This result proves that the Commission is absolutely determined to make this new instrument of participatory democracy a success. I said the organisers of the first initiatives would face no insurmountable stumbling blocks to get their initiatives off the ground, and I meant it. I would like to thank the Luxembourg authorities, in particular Minister Octavie Modert. Their excellent cooperation enabled the Commission to deliver on this commitment."

Mr Luca Copetti, a representative of the Citizens' Committee for Fraternité 2020 said: “We are thrilled that we have now started collecting statements of support for our initiative. We have long been eager to promote our vision of a united Europe based on solidarity among citizens through this new instrument of transnational democracy. We started preparing ourselves for it more than two years ago and we were in pole position when the Regulation entered into force. As the first initiative registered by the Commission, we have experienced some challenges which could not have been anticipated. We are grateful that the Commission has helped us to overcome them, and that we can now concentrate on bringing about a truly European debate around our proposals, which hopefully will result in reaching the required level of support.”

Luxembourg Minister Octavie Modert said: “I am honoured to certify the first OCS system of a European Citizens' Initiative in Luxembourg and thus contribute to giving European citizens a powerful tool of participatory democracy at EU level. I am especially glad because this certification is a true example of the European state of mind, showed through the collaboration of the European Commission and my services at the CTIE. Luxembourg is proud to host the servers for the OCS systems and is willing to offer its services for ongoing collaboration with the Commission in order to assure a good handling of this participatory tool and to offer a sustainable solution for organisers of citizens' initiatives.”

The ECI co-rapporteurs in the European Parliament also welcomed the news. Mr Alain Lamassoure MEP said: "I am delighted to see that, thanks to the Commission's efforts, all the technical conditions are now fulfilled to enable citizens to take part in the elaboration of EU law."

The European Commission will mark Europe Day tomorrow (9 May) by registering the very first European Citizens' Initiative.

"Fraternité 2020 – Mobility. Progress. Europe" is the title of the first initiative, proposed by a committee of EU citizens living in Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Romania and Spain. Their stated motivation is to "enhance EU exchange programmes – like Erasmus or the European Voluntary Service – in order to contribute to a united Europe based on solidarity among citizens".

Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič said: "I am thrilled that European Citizens' Initiatives are finally a reality. This is a great boost for participatory democracy in Europe. Now the race is on to see which initiative will be the first to gather one million signatures."