Two new European Citizens’ Initiatives (ECIs) were deemed admissible by the College of Commissioners on Wednesday 18 July. The Commission will decide on the substance of the initiatives only if they attract the required number of signatures.
The main objective of the first, “Permanent European Union Citizenship”, is to guarantee that European citizenship and its associated rights cannot be lost once they have been attained. Organisers say that the proposal is in response to the issues raised by Brexit, which will see the United Kingdom leave the European Union at the end of March 2019.
The second ECI, “Stop starvation for 8% of the European population”, seeks to “prompt governments to embrace the hunger problem”. Organisers call for a range of measures to be adopted at EU level to address this problem, ranging from the creation of a food stamp programme to a reform of agricultural derivatives markets, and a new classification system for food waste.
From the date of registration of these initiatives, 19 and 23 July respectively, organisers will have a year to gather the necessary support. If, within that timescale, one million signatures have been gathered from at least seven member states for either or both of the ECIs, the Commission will analyse its/their substance and will have three months in which to give its response. (Original version in French by Carmen García, intern)