On Tuesday 11 April, the First Vice-President of the Commission, Frans Timmermans, announced that the institution was to propose a revision of the European Citizens' Initiative Regulation (ECI) (see EUROPE 11757, 11653).
ECIs aim to invite the Commission to present legislative proposals in areas in which the EU is competent to legislate. They must be supported by at least a million European citizens from at least seven of the 28 EU countries.
“I want to make the ECI more accessible and citizen-friendly. I want it to become a popular and living instrument”, Timmermans said in a speech at European Citizens' Initiative Day.
In 2017, the Commission will submit a proposal to revise the ECI, in light of the experience of the five years since the regulation entered into force and on the basis of the contributions fed in by a public consultation to be launched before the summer. In five years, the Commission has registered more than 40 initiatives receiving over 6 million signatures in total. Three initiatives have been discussed by the College of Commissioners, having passed the 1 million signature threshold ('Stop Vivisection', 'One of Us' and 'Water and Sanitation are a Human Right'); according to the Commission, two of these three ECIs led to the adoption of specific political measures. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)