As stated by the European Commission, the European citizens’ initiative is a way for you and other Europeans to take an active part in EU policy-making. This is a unique way for you to help shape the EU by calling on the European Commission to propose new laws.
Once an initiative has reached 1 million signatures, the Commission will decide on what action to take.
Here you can see a step-by-step guide on how ECI happens in practice.
You can get independent advice on legal and organisational aspects on the European citizens’ initiative Forum before asking the Commission to register your initiative, but you can also attend events such as these to help you with certain aspects of your idea:
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Webinar on “European Citizens' Initiative: how can civil society organisations make use of it?” will be held on 6 April and you can register here.
The webinar should help you understand what the ECI is, with examples of initiatives in the field of fundamental rights. More info on the webinar can be found here.
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Workshop on in-person campaigning strategies for European Citizens’ Initiatives is organised the following week, 12 April, and you can register for it here.
The workshop is for organisations and individuals who want to discover approaches to in-person campaigning, review the paper signature collection strategies from former successful European citizens’ initiatives, and gather tips for campaign websites from successful campaigners. More info on the event can be found here.
Both events are online only.
More valuable resources on the topic can be found here:
ECI website: https://europa.eu/citizens-initiative/_en
Citizen centraI podcast: https://europa.eu/citizens-initiative/citizencentral-podcast_en
