Thanks to the Citizen initiative of the European Union under the Lisbon Treaty, if citizens can collect one million signatures, they can request the EU Commission to do whatever they want. However, this proposal must be within the jurisdiction of the EU Commission. Several attempts have been made to implement the EU Citizen initiative, which has been in practice since 2012. Many of the proposals were rejected and very few accepted. Has this system, in which the European Union wants to add the example of direct democracy, which can be joined by representative democracy in its people, been successful? Or was this attempt a good plan on paper, but was born dead in practice?
I think answer is partially in your question. From my point of view there are several limits for labelling Citizen Initiative as successful. So far I know just four out of dozens of Initiatives succeeded. First, people are proposing to deal with issues having strongly national connotation and thus there is a problem to get necessary minimal quorum in other six countries. Moreover, some issues are not within powers of the EU as people don’t understand what EU is doing and what is the issue of Member States. Second, after studying successful initiatives you will discover that you need a lot of money to collect enough signatures. You need to run information campaigns etc. This is limiting activities of NGOs which are very necessary actors in helping to get signatures. Third, gaining signatures itself seems to be very complicated as some countries have very strict rules. With your signature you must submit other personal details which is discouraging people to sign. The fourth limit is the final realization. At the end European Commission may issue some proposal, however the proposal itself might be weak or weakened in the European Parliament or the Council of Ministers as there are many channels how to soften the proposal or even reject it. Overall, the idea is good but not very consistent with rather rigid system of EU governance.
At a time when people around the world are fighting for more democracy, I consider the European Citizens' Initiative as a tool to establish a more democratic European Union. Still, the road ahead is lined with potential obstacles, such as how to verify the signatures, legal framework, and so forth. Having said that, European Citizens’ Initiative is a first example of direct democracy between several different countries.
In my personal opinion it is a good start and it can work despite some obstacles. ECI is the first step in the right direction.
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