ECI Day 2015 - light at the end of the tunnel for European citizens' initiatives

Despite frustration with bureaucratic hurdles, the ECI Day offered some grounds for hope.

While citizens' political interest remains unchanged, many initiatives collapse right at the outset because of the amount of red tape which is not only considerable, but also differs from one Member State to another.

This was the bottom line of the discussion on the occasion of the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) Day organised by the European Economic and Social Committee on 13 April. Although there is still much enthusiasm and commitment for citizens' participation, more than 200 participants used the opportunity to voice their frustration with these hurdles and identify the issues where they are expecting improvement in order to facilitate citizens' engagement.

With a million signatures coming from at least seven countries and collected over 12 months, citizens thought they would be able to influence laws. They thought they would... The sobering fact is that, three years after the scheme's introduction, only two out of 51 European Citizens Initiatives actually made it to the end, but without resulting in further legal initiatives from the Commission. Legally, the Commission is not obliged to react with new laws and this makes the European Citizen's Initiative somewhat ineffective.

The hopes of committed NGO's and citizens are now pinned on Commissioner Frans Timmermans i who is also responsible for "better regulation" and who clearly understood the political message coming from the ECI day and is promising to consider these complaints when amending the process. Emily O'Reilly i, the European Ombudsman will be another ally for committed citizens when it comes to knocking down bureaucratic walls.

EESC: bridge to the institutions - facilitator for citizens' initiatives

The ECI day once more showed the importance of the EESC's role as a bridge between civil society and European institutions, bringing citizens' concerns, problems and wishes to their attention. With the new translation tool, the EESC will provide the translation of the 800 character ECI submission text in all EU languages for all validated ECIs, thereby removing a major burden from committed citizens. This is a step further towards the setting up of an EESC ECI Support Center which has several components in addition to the new translation service, including a research database and a legal support unit in cooperation with ECAS.