Frequently Asked Questions
Question: What is the citizen’s legislative initiative to the European Parliament, and how does it work?
Reply: On May 29, the Council of Ministers introduced into Italy the Community initiative, enabling citizens to take part in the legislative activities of the European Parliament through the European Commission.
This instrument has been issued in response to the member countries’ wish to consolidate the principles governing democracy, by bringing the citizens closer to the institutions and making them "frontline activists" in initiatives and lawmaking.
The European Parliament, based in Strasbourg, is an organ directly elected by the citizens of the countries belonging to the European Union, and together with the European Union Council constitutes one of the two Chambers exercising legislative powers. The powers of the European Parliament, not all of which are exercised autonomously, are legislative, budgetary and the power of democratic oversight.
The European Commission is one of the main institutions of the European Union and represents and protects the interests of the EU as a whole. One of the Commission's main tasks is to prepare proposals for new European laws by tabling legislative acts before the Parliament and the Council to defend the interests of the EU and its citizens in respect of matters which cannot be effectively managed at the national, regional or local levels.
The regulation provided by the Lisbon Treaty was adopted by the European Parliament and the Council in 2011 and came into force on 1 April, 2012. The citizens' legislative initiative enables citizens of at least seven countries belonging to the European Union, who are of voting age to elect the members of the European Parliament (18 years of age in every country except Austria, where the voting age is 16) to submit legislative proposals.
The European Union has 27 member countries. Italy was one of the first to accede in 1952, and the most recent members are Romania and Bulgaria who acceded in 2007.
The Lisbon Treaty came into force on 1 December, 2009. The Lisbon Treaty and amends and renews the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty Instituting the European Community, without replacing them, taking into account the political, economic and social changes which the member states are having to address. The new Treaty lays down new rules and updates existing rules governing globalisation, climate change, demographic developments, security and energy, for which Europeans look to the EU.
Any initiative to be proposed is addressed to the European Council requesting it to propose a legislative instrument relating to:
- The environment
- Agriculture
- Transport
- Public health.
Registration
Before submitting a proposal, citizens must set up a committee composed of at least seven citizens resident in at least seven European Union member countries. After this first phase, the committee must register the initiative it intends to present on the Commission website.
The European Commission is required to pronounce on the initiative within two months of registration.
Collecting signatures
After registering their proposal, the citizens have one year within which to collect signatures to support it, by filling in a form which must contain all the information which the form states to be mandatory, together with the personal particulars of the signatory citizens, and its registration number.
These declarations in support of the initiative may be sent on paper or electronically. If sent electronically, an online signature collection system must be installed which will guarantee that:
- Only individuals submit the request, and not computers
- The data is able to be collected and stored securely
- The format used to submit the proposals must be such that the competent national authorities are able to check them.
One million signatures are needed to support the initiative, with a minimum of signatures from at least seven member states, depending on the country (for example, a minimum of 4,500 for Luxembourg to a maximum of 74,254 for Germany. For Italy, the minimum number is 54,750 signatures).
Certification
After collecting the signatures, the national Authorities will certify the number of declarations of support within three months.
In Italy three authorities are responsible for verification:
- The Ministry of Home Affairs will be responsible for ensuring that the procedure to acquire the declarations of Italian citizens has been performed properly;
- ISTAT, acting on the instructions of the Ministry of Home Affairs, will be responsible for putting in place a procedure for sampling the initiatives received;
- DigitPA will certify the online declaration collection systems.
Presenting the initiative to the Commission
Once the initiative has been registered and subsequently certified by the national authorities responsible for certification, it can be submitted to the European Commission which will examine the proposal and pronounce on it within three months. If the initiative is considered valid, the legislative procedure will be set in motion.
For more information: http://ec.europa.eu/citizens-initiative/public/welcome
