Brussels, 02/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission says in a report published on 31 March that arrangements on the European citizens' initiative (ECI) have “been fully implemented” and the procedures and mechanisms needed for the ECI to work properly are in place.
It acknowledges, nonetheless, that further improvements can be made. With regard to online collection, the Commission's hosting offer managed to remove the biggest obstacle. However, the stakeholders remain critical of the complexity of the current certification procedure and are not fully satisfied with the features offered by the Commission software. Moreover, the Commission hosting has been offered as a temporary and exceptional service, as no provision for it was made in the regulation. The competent authorities of several member states are uncomfortable with the possibility for organisers to request the certification of their system before the registration of their proposed initiative with the Commission. Two systems were certified but never used, given that the corresponding initiatives could not be registered by the Commission. In the light of the above, the Commission has recently commissioned a study on ECI Information and Communication Technology (ICT) impacts, which will feed into the Commission reflection regarding the online collection process. While the outcome of the study will guide the Commission position on this important matter, the Commission “will continue to provide its exceptional hosting service to organisers free of charge as long as needed”, the report states.
Among the other areas where improvements could be brought are: - the lack of legal personality of the citizens' committees: several committees have reported concerns about liability and obstacles e.g. in raising funds and manage data protection, especially in view of the fact that they reside in at least seven different countries; - registration: this remains a major challenge for the organisers as an important number of proposed ECIs are manifestly outside the scope of the Commission's area of responsibility; - requirements for signatories: divergences between the conditions and personal data required from signatories by the different member states remain an issue of concern, especially in the cases where citizens are as a result excluded from their right to support an initiative; the Commission welcomes the constructive approach of those member states which so far have responded positively to the its calls to make uniform and simplify their (data) requirements, but there is need for further efforts to make the ECI tool more accessible; - the timeline of an ECI's lifecycle: organisers have indicated that the time needed to set up their online collection system means that in most cases, they have less than 12 months to collect and this should be remedied; - at both public hearings organised at the European Parliament, no stakeholders or experts other than the ECI organisers themselves were invited to actively participate; attempts should be made to organise the public hearing in such a manner as to ensure that stakeholders representing different views and perspectives are heard, the Commission says; - some ECI organisers (and other stakeholders) consider that there is insufficient dialogue and interaction with the Commission at different stages of the ECI's lifecycle and in particular after the adoption of the Commission's communication on the citizens' initiative; they would like to see the examination and follow-up process more structured and to be more extensively involved therein.
Since April 2012, the Commission has received 51 requests for registration of proposed citizens' initiatives. Of these 31 were registered (sixteen registrations in 2012, nine in 2013, five in 2014 and one in 2015). Three initiatives are currently collecting statements of support. Eighteen initiatives have reached the end of their collection period (ten others were withdrawn before the end of their collection period). Among those 18, three initiatives have reached the required number of statements of support and were submitted to the Commission. Two have already received a formal response from the Commission: Water and sanitation are a human right! Water is a public good, not a commodity! (Right2Water) and One of us. The third (Stop vivisection) is under examination by the Commission and will receive an answer by 3 June 2015. Twenty proposed initiatives did not fulfil the registration criteria and therefore could not be registered by the Commission. (Lionel Changeur)