The text reforming the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) - on which the General Affairs Council showed agreement on Tuesday 26 June - is close to the proposal from the Commission in September 2017 (see EUROPE 11863).
The Council of the EU thus takes on board the Commission’s proposal to: - create national points of contact; - create an online collaborative platform; - partially register ECIs that go beyond the powers of the EU; - create an online signature collection service; - do away with the obligation of residence in the EU in order to sign an ECI; - and extend the scrutiny phase from three to five months, with balanced representation from all stakeholders.
The Council’s position is different from the Commission’s on two points.
The EU28 thus hope to keep the minimum age of 18 for supporting an ECI, while the Commission has suggested 16 years of age. They also wish to do away with the individual signature collection system with a view to simplification.
Further setback
“Member states are determined to ensure that this important tool is both simple to use and effective”, said Ekaterina Zaharieva, Bulgarian Minister for Foreign Affairs.
This agreement will serve as a mandate for the future Austrian presidency to enter into negotiation with the European Parliament, where the parliamentary committee on constitutional affairs (AFCO) has finalised the negotiating position (see EUROPE 12046).
This is a new setback, not only for ECI organisers (see EUROPE 11999) but also for the European Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee (see EUROPE 11990), which above all criticise the “Commission’s monopoly at every stage of the procedure”. (Original version in French by Mathieu Solal, trainee)