24/10/2016 (Agence Europe) – Several citizens’ rights organisations, including Democracy International and Mehr Demokratie, handed in a petition to the European Commission on Monday 24 October. It has been signed by more than 40,000 people and calls for the Commission to abandon opposition to strengthening the European Citizens Initiative (ECI) (see EUROPE 11523). The organisations are calling for the removal of certain restrictions which, they argue, condemn the ECI to failure: data collection requirements that are excessively strict, not allowing initiatives to determine the start date of their signature collection, and the excessive complexity of the system for collecting online signatures, as provided by the Commission. Out of the 55 ECIs launched since 2012, 20 have been declared inadmissible, while three have been accepted, though none have led to any legislative initiatives. (MB)