Brussels, 01/12/2010 (Agence Europe) - The first official trialogue was the only one needed: in the evening on Tuesday 30 November, the European Parliament (EP), Council and Commission reached political agreement on the regulation for implementing the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI). The finishing touches will be put to the text in the coming days before approval by the EP (on 16 December) and the Council. Once the regulation has been formally adopted and published, member states will have 12 months in which to put in place the legal and administrative conditions that will allow it to be applied. The EP wanted a shorter timescale of six months, but had to concede on this point.
The three institutions, then, have succeeded in finding common ground on each of the points that remained outstanding on Monday evening (see EUROPE of yesterday), including the highly controversial issue of whether citizens who sign a statement of support for an ECI should have to provide their identity card numbers in addition to surnames, first names and dates and places of birth. The compromise allows member states to put in place such a requirement if they so desire. Several countries - Belgium, Ireland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Estonia, Germany, the United Kingdom, Slovakia and Finland - have already said that they will not require any identity card numbers. The minimum number of countries from which the one million signatures needed should come was also discussed. The EP wanted a fifth (20%) of member states, while the Council was calling for a third. Ultimately, the threshold was set at a quarter (25%) of member states. The age at which citizens can take part in an ECI is the age at which people are eligible to vote in the European elections in each of the member states. As the EP had argued, the admissibility of an ECI will be checked once, at the time of its being registered on the Commission website. It was also agreed that “citizens' committees”, made up of at least seven people from seven different countries, should be set up. A public hearing will be organised by the Commission and the EP for any ECI which gathers at least one million signatures, regardless of what the Commission's response to it might be.
Reactions. Belgian Secretary of State for European Affairs Olivier Chastel who negotiated the agreement on behalf of the Council of course welcomed the outcome which is yet another feather in the Belgian Presidency's cap. “I welcome today's agreement in principle on the points of the regulation. The text will be finalised by our legal experts in the next few days before final trialogue political agreement and then adoption at the plenary session of the European Parliament on 16 December,” he said. He also hailed the excellent cooperation with the four EP rapporteurs. Andrew Duff (ALDE, UK) said that the ECI agreement was “a very good way to celebrate the first anniversary of the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty” which brought about this new instrument. “The Citizens' Initiative is a huge step in boosting the popular legitimacy of the European Union.” (H.B./transl.rt)